As we arrive at the final lap of the rather lengthy campaign to choose a new leader for the Nationalist Party, I would like to submit some comments which may be food for thought for the thousands of party members eligible to vote.
I do not consider this particular election as a ‘normal’ one, like it is just one other election for the top post in the Nationalist Party. This is both different and much more crucial because it comes at a time when, for the first time ever in its 138 years of history, the PN has been soundly beaten in two consecutive elections.
In 1971 and 1976, the PN was also on the losing side of general elections, but the total gap between MLP and PN was 4,829 votes and 6,303 votes respectively, a grand total of 11,132 votes. The situation now is critical and warrants a totally different approach altogether.
It is wise and commendable to emphasise that the PN should uphold its principles and values but it is equally fundamental to make the party electable because otherwise it would be nigh impossible to translate all that the PN stands for, in practice, for the benefit of our people. Hard times call for drastic measures; the alternative is that the fast developments occurring around us will consign a ‘glorious’ political party to history.
Looking fairly and squarely at the present situation one can only arrive at the conclusion that no matter how so many genuine people in the PN gave their all, results were, to say the least, appalling. No wonder that this state of affairs took centre stage in the first phase of this election, which gave against all predictions a resounding lead to newcomer Adrian Delia.
To all those who may have been justifiably astonished with this result, may I remind them that those who decided that result were the party councillors, considered to be the most in touch with the party, representing grassroots from all walks of life and who, arguably, are also the best-placed to know what’s going on inside and outside of the party. Their consequential recommendations to the 20,000-strong membership of the party was unambiguous: they want a distinctly new way for the PN to go forward.
I may be the first to admit that this campaign was quite extraordinary as one would, after all, expect it to be in the scenario we are living in. So many people, genuinely or otherwise, tried to ‘poison’ the whole contest but, at the end of the day, the councillors’ vote is always dependable and a reflection of an honest reality check.
What is extremely vital is the state of the Nationalist Party beyond Saturday
Only a few months ago we witnessed the presidential electoral campaign in France where a brand new candidate, Emanuel Macron, struck a chord instantaneously with the French electorate. His political opponents soon realised that he will be a hard nut to crack, and so they resorted to a derogatory campaign full of accusations, allegations and outright lies.
Macron was accused of having a hidden account in Bahamas; of being a money-launderer; of having links with the Mafia and freemasonry; of being a US agent; of working for and on behalf of Jewish soldiers; of being a stooge and a Trojan horse of the Socialist Party from which he had resigned two years earlier; of having given contracts to friends when he was, for a short period of time, a minister; of being totally at the mercy of the gigantic telecommunications industry and the banks that serve it.
On a strictly personal level, Macron was accused of being gay and of trying to camouflage his sexual orientation by marrying a wife 24 years older than him. One blogger alleged that he had an extramarital affair with a man who happens to be the head of France Radio.
Furthermore, he was accused of having very near to him people who had links to drug traffickers; that he likes expensive suits and that a well-known businessman, who was the best man at Macron’s wedding, later on subsidised his party and helped him to buy his first apartment in Paris and then put some of his offices at the disposal of Macron’s new party.
I can go on and on but the point I would like to underline here is that newcomers at the highest end of politics tend to be deemed as convenient targets by whoever feels somehow threatened by these same brand new protagonists.
It is pertinent to point out that Macron went on to win handsomely the French presidential election for which he was congratulated by former US President Barack Obama, saying that Macron helped the French electorate to choose courage over fear.
It is not my intention to put one PN leadership contestant against the other. I know them both and I can say that I only have respect for them. But seeing on the ground what they can contribute to the PN after September 16, I must highlight the new enthusiasm Delia has brought with him in the midst of an otherwise gloomy situation in a struggling party reeling under the effects of two miserable general election results.
He is at his very best when mingling with people or speaking to the various audiences who accompanied him in this long electoral campaign.
While I will be voting for Delia – actually I already did last Saturday – I hasten to add that it is not so important how an ordinary tesserat like me (who actually worked for nearly 45 years in the very midst of the PN) decides between these two competent front runners. What is extremely vital is the state of the party beyond Saturday.
And in this context, I take liberty to quote from a recent Facebook post by Ivan Bartolo (PN candidate on the ninth district in the last general election): “I am going to keep shouting one word: unite. I support the will of the people and as long as that is respected I will march on and contribute. There must be one winner: the PN.”
Bartolo added: “Please let the two contenders do the convincing and we must simply do the listening, the thinking and the deciding. Majority wins. One minute later we must unite and start this new journey with one aim – protect democracy, strengthen our party.”
So be it.
Victor Camilleri is a former editor of In-Nazzjon Tagħna and il-Mument.