Cheques and Imbalances

The Partit Laburista’s 39,000 margin of victory in the last elections represented a truly extraordinary result and will have implications – both positive and negative. Robert Abela is now able to declare that the umbilical cord with Joseph Muscat has been well and truly severed. He now can present himself as a PM willing to start afresh, free of the awkward baggage, stained with red, which saddled the government he led since 2020. Practically a clean slate. Quasi tabula rasa. Unless that infamous Paragraph 506 really does mean that fresh bloodstains will taint this administration too.

However, this is about the Partit Nazzjonalista, still rolling in the dust following the third consecutive electoral thrashing the biggest one yet in numerical terms – and possibly the most humiliating. It follows a heinous murder the state was partly responsible for, quite credible allegations of massive corruption, a pandemic, grey-listing, trade difficulties in the wake of the situation in Ukraine, a breakdown in relations between the Abela and his highly-popular predecessor and other serious problems the PN should have capitalised on – but managed not to. A considerable feat.

Voters delivered a terrible blow to the PN. What were the reasons? Their name is probably legion. Let’s list and discuss some of the more outstanding.

The in-fighting within the PN, once a model of unity when Fenech Adami ruled the roost, must be a factor in the defeat. Remember the time when Lino Spiteri (the best Prime Minister Malta never had, in my humble opinion) used to, apparently contemptuously - but probably in envy - refer to relations within the PN as ‘’harmonious as the choir in Nabucco’’, while his own party was patently riven with internal feuds? How times change.

Prior to this election, any aria about unity sung by the PN candidates prior would have been ear-achingly discordant, despite the best efforts of the choirmaster. On the level of internal unison, the party certainly did not hit the right notes with the electorate.

It’s not within the scope of this article to delve into the PN’s labyrinthine internal dynamics. They are complicated to understand, and it’s difficult to explain them to others but, behind the peaceful façade Grech sought to project lurks a great deal of animosity between individuals. Take Jason Azzopardi and Adrian Delia, for example. Bernard Grech did his level best to hammer out a truce between them, and there have been no more public rifts for many months, but nobody believes that relations between them have improved. The snide remarks against Delia in the blogs associated with the Civil Society juxtaposed with their uncritical lionising of Azzopardi, are a significant marker of the acrimonious state of affairs between the two. Even if that were a mistaken belief and the two have become like Damon and Pythias, the general perception is that the two are the best of enemies. Voters tend to shy away from a house seen to be divided unto itself.

Secondly, the promises. In all fairness, the PN made some excellent proposals. The ten "new" sectors are exciting and appear to be potentially fruitful on many levels. There was much to commend even about the controversial trackless tram pledge - as a concept. The apparent difficulties tied to its implementation do not seem to be utterly insoluble. But the constant editing of the manifesto, the apparent disagreement between PN stalwarts about their most eye-catching proposal, and the very late publication of the costings, detracted from the attractiveness of the programme. The party came across as vacillating and incompetent precisely in association with that aspect of the campaign – the electoral programme- which should have garnered them most votes.

Thirdly, while the PN may do its best to choose the most gaudy and attractive wrapping paper in which to package itself, it cannot escape the reality that the gift inside would not excite in many people a frenzied desire to possess it. Besides the internal wrangling, the perceived uncertainties and incompetence, there is the question of how the voters appraise the ability of the party to perform in a crucial area: the economy and finances. It’s all very well to cost projects with an impressive array of figures, but the bottom line for many voters is that the PN itself is practically indigent, owes millions to the state and, were it a business, it would have long folded up. Despite any number of degrees and diplomas and the glossy literature, would you employ a stockbroker who is personally bankrupt to invest your savings?

Fourthly, there is question of pitching your criticism of adversaries believably. At times the PN seems as if it truly believes the opprobrium it heaps upon the PL and I’m not referring to what is objectively wrong with the PL, like its tolerance and facilitation of corruption and the criminal destruction of the environment. The PL has manifestly performed admirably well in certain areas. Scorning and distorting what is clearly positive is off-putting to the more discerning, non-partisan citizens whose votes the PN needs like oxygen. Portraying the PL as neglectful of the poorer sections of society, for example, is a gross twisting of the reality many have experienced over the past 10 years. Telling that to pensioners whose income has improved markedly – or to their relatives – and to those, previously barely subsisting on social benefits amounting to €500 monthly, who are now employed and getting by, will not have gone down well. Objective observers know it’s not true for a considerable number of people who were on the poverty line prior to 2013.

Moreover, by rubbishing the increases and minimising the effects of better benefits and improved work opportunities will have strengthened the belief that the PN is cut off from social realities. Therefore, the breast-beating and the promises to improve matters on that score will have sounded hollow over the past weeks.

So, what can the PN do if it is to repurpose itself as a credible alternative government? Let’s consider the fourth factor mentioned above: perhaps consider acknowledging openly that the government has performed very ably in some sectors. Why not publicly recognise that the quality of life for many people in the lower financial strata has improved - and promise to do even better and work on those areas where there is still a degree of suffering, rather than attempt to stamp a false reality on the voters’ consciousness? A radical notion: if one were to employ honesty, rather than the usual politicking through the rubbishing of adversaries, it might shock voters so much they might actually vote for one.

This honesty in politics business is very much tied to political maturity, which among other things would entail taking public responsibility for one’s failures. Blaming the debacle on the payment of cheques a few days before voting-day and other abuses of the power of incumbency (undoubtedly ploys which, at the very least, raise questions) for the increase in the size of the defeat may help somewhat salve the pain of the bewildered PN core voters, but it does nothing to attract the thinking floating-voters – the only ones who can help the PN to a better result next time round. Any person of normal intelligence will realise that the more credible polls were predicting a colossal PL victory months before the first cheque thumped the first letter-box.

The PN has to sort itself out before even starting to fantasise about regaining power in 2027. There are the party finances to put in order. PN has been pretty secretive about the situation, giving the PL social media supporters an excellent opportunity to bandy about all sorts of figures (actually no, not all sorts; just some pretty astronomical ones) about the numbers in bold red at the bottom of its accounts. Even if the situation is dire as some think it is, it would be better to come clean with the electorate it is trying to convince and present a credible plan for getting out of the mess. That would probably set the voters’ minds at rest that the PN is not entirely bereft of the financial brains required to run the party’s finances – and the country’s.

Then there is the probably even thornier issue of internal divisions. No party can ever be free of a degree of ideological or personal conflict within its ranks, but the disagreement bedevelling the PN at present is beyond the pale. Voters cannot forget that a faction within the PN – whether justifiably or not is not the issue – forced the leader out despite his popularity among the grass-roots. That very same former leader was often on the same podium and the same TV screens with the ones who brought about his downfall - a constant reminder of the simmering dispute. He, or the ring-leaders of the coup which ousted him, may have to go. While the party grandees wishing to avoid bloodshed could hope that in five years’ time all will be forgotten, Delia’s many supporters are now baying for his enemies’ blood with the pain of the defeat adding decibels to the volume of their howls. As far as this complete outsider to things Nationalist can see they do not appear to be willing to settle for anything less than a purge.

Bernard Grech cannily realised long ago that, with Metsola safely ensconced in Brussels, there is no credible alternative to his leadersip. His will have his work cut out but he must start with the idea that the imbalance will not be removed by blaming cheques, but by treating the electorate as intelligent individuals rather than a bunch of avaricious ġaħans as his more embittered supporters tend to maintain.

He has five years in which to try and transform this apparently washed-up, has-been pugilist of a party with a glorious past but little else into a fighting force ready to step into the ring and confront the apparently invincible champion. At stake there is the glittering belt of power, but more than that there is the absolute necessity to fight the good fight in the name of democracy.

The dangers of a situation where elections are almost a formality hardly bear writing about. You don’t have to be a die-hard Nationalist to wish Grech and the PN well.