PN’s stark choice: Oblivion or giving hope a chance | Frank Camilleri

Frank Camilleri is a company director

The Nationalist Party leadership contest once more shows that even in extreme times the party cannot unite and present a common front to face its political ‘enemy’—an enemy that is turning into a monster of democratic abuse.

On one side, we have a complete novice, Alex Borg, who has never made any political dent in parliament or outside it. He is presenting himself as the solution to the malaise the PN is currently in.

On the other side, we have Adrian Delia, tried and tested as leader between 2017 and 2020 and forged into a veteran of sorts over the past five years. His flagship achievement is the return of three public hospitals to the Malta Government after successfully challenging the Vitals contract in court.

The situation the PN finds itself in is comparable to an aeroplane where suddenly the pilot abandons his stewardship of the aircraft to whoever wants to take a chance.

Should you happen to be one of the passengers on board, you find yourself presented with a choice of having a pilot who has never flown anything or a pilot who has already been in the seat and successfully landed other aeroplanes over the last five years.

Unfortunately, many of those eligible to vote in the PN leadership election are voting for a youthful leadership, with new ideas and new projects. But what they do not seem to realise is that the many promises being made by Alex Borg are not realisable in the short time left to the next general election.

This leadership contest is about electing a leader who would be able to lead the PN into the next election that is due within the next two years and possibly win it. The election could also be earlier because if Prime Minister Robert Abela is wise enough, and he is, he will immediately call an election after the new PN leader is elected.

Given the above considerations, it is beyond my comprehension that a political novice puts himself for possible election to a leadership role. It is short sighted and can only lead to one conclusion—a heavy trammelling for the PN at the polls. If this were to happen, the PN will be pushed into political oblivion for the next 20 years, to Labour’s rightful delight.

My stand is not against Alex Borg and in favour of Adrian Delia. Far from it. It is a plain and simple plea for sanity. Had the leadership contest been taking place under normal circumstances then much of the above would not be relevant.  But we are now talking about the political survival of a party.

Alex Borg can be the tesserati’s favourite future leader, but for sure not the one to give the PN the victory it so badly needs in the coming general election.

As for Delia, I have my doubts if I would be choosing him for PN leader had the circumstances been different. Delia seems to lack political acumen and not infrequently shows political naivety. Take his efforts to include Labour journalists for an interview. He should have learned by now that it is of no use to offer a friendly hand to a political adversary who will eventually be making a joke of it.

However, as things stand, Delia is the only hope to give Labour a run for its money in the short time left to the general election. He is the one who can land running on his feet.

Everyone concedes, beating Labour at the polls is a Herculean task although nothing says Delia may not pull it off. But even if Delia fails to turn the tables, narrowing the distance between the two major parties and reducing the parliamentary majority would be enough of a victory to be proud of.

The PN ‘tesserati’ are playing a dangerous game if they do not think their choice through—a game that could mean throwing the PN into oblivion.