What if Renzo Piano had fitted ejector seats into his design for the new Parliament?

The Skinny | No. 43 | Adrian Delia Stays Put

Delia confidential...
Delia confidential...

What are we skinning? Adrian Delia’s refusal to vacate his position as PN leader despite no-confidence motion against him.

Why are we skinning it? Because it’s the latest political scandal-cum-crisis in a series of them, and Delia’s stubbornness reflects back uncomfortable parallels to the Konrad Mizzi fiasco.

But he has every right to stay on if he wants to, doesn’t he? Beyond the constitutional legalisms at play – this unprecedented situation has raised some interesting questions as to how and when the President of the Republic should be involved, for example – the bare-bones fact of the matter is that, well, staying on is not all that great a look, is it?

How do you mean? As with Konrad Mizzi, it brings to the fore both notions of dignity – why stay when you’re clearly not wanted? – while also adding fuel to the unsightly fire of conspiracy theory.

Conspiracy theory? Yes. Nature abhors a vacuum, and Delia’s decision to stay on is decidedly vacuous at this stage. So the void starts to be gangrenously filled up by all sorts of wild notions: from Delia being a PL plant, to secret agreements and consequences of criminal actions were he to resign...

But that’s just plainly ridiculous. And besides, he does enjoy the support of paid-up ‘tesserati’. Yes, but is that enough to hold on to the reins of a party that is already struggling. A party does not live on tesserati alone.

That would be – pardon the pun – impolitic of them to ever admit. Yes, but that points to another problem in our system – an antiquated pandering to the party hardcore when things get tough for a particular candidate, in a way that actually undermines the seriousness of the democratic process.

So you’re saying we have too much democracy? Not quite. What I’m saying is that our democratic processes – both at the micro and the macro level – should be fine-tuned to better serve the nation as a whole, instead of those who simply pledge blind allegiance.

You’re basically calling for an end to clientelism in Malta. Quixotic, I know.

Do say: “While Delia’s claim that the party faithful have voted for him may have some merit, his decision to stay on irrespective of the no-confidence vote hints at either an inflated ego or, arguably worse, suspicious goings-on behind the scenes, neither which augur well for the Opposition Party, which is desperately needed right now as the governing Labour Party continues to rack up scandal after scandal.”

Don’t say: “If only Renzo Piano had fitted ejector seats into his design…”