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14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 SEPTEMBER 2018 Securing control of party structures Delia loyalists now control stra- tegic positions in the party's in- ternal structures. These include Kristy Debono who was elected as president of the party's General Council in a close contest which pitted her against former PN minister Cen- su Galea, and Clyde Puli, who was appointed to the post of general secretary and who was unchal- lenged. Former Malta Independent di- rector and one-time PN official Pierre Portelli has been appoint- ed executive chairman of the par- ty's media. While the parliamen- tary group remains divided, the party's national executive is largely loyal to the new leader as are the party's new deputy leaders Robert Arrigo and David Agius. Delia also has managed to rec- oncile himself with former lead- ership contender Chris Said and the party's list of MEP candidates includes relatively new faces like Peter Agius, Michael Briguglio, Frank Psaila and journalist Dione Borg, who individually represent different ideological hues but are loyal to Delia. Carving his own distinctive pitch One of the greatest problems facing the party under Lawrence Gonzi and even more so under Simon Busuttil was its failure to communicate with a segment of tradi- tional PN voters, espe- cially those hailing from southern districts and from a working class background. This has been re- flected in a decline of the party in southern and western dis- tricts. D e l i a ' s e l e c t i o n on its own r e p r e s e n t e d a rapture, and resistance against Delia is partly ex- plained by the sense of entitlement of the party's old guard in the face of defi- ance by party members. Delia had been defiant when asked to withdraw his candida- ture by an internal commission and by former leader Simon Busuttil following revelations by Daphne Caruana Galizia and later by MaltaToday related to a bank account opened in his name in Jersey. As leader, Delia has tried to widen the party's appeal by giv- ing his party a more conservative imprint and emphasise issues re- lated to identity and migration, which risks alienating other cat- egories of more liberal PN voters. While this approach has so far not resulted in any advance in polling, it has given the party a distinctive mark. But unlike the party grandee Eddie Fenech Adami, who also pitched for working class votes, Delia has so far not moved his party to the left on social policy and he is more keen to emphasise identity issues than addressing prob- lems like rising rents and growing in- equality. Simon Busuttil was its failure to communicate with a segment of tradi- tional PN voters, espe- cially those hailing from southern districts and from a working class plained by the sense of entitlement of the party's old guard in the face of defi- ance by party members. Delia had been defiant when asked to withdraw his candida- ture by an internal commission and by former leader Simon Busuttil following revelations by Daphne Caruana Galizia and later by MaltaToday related to a bank account opened in his name As leader, Delia has tried to widen the party's appeal by giv- ing his party a more conservative imprint and emphasise issues re- lated to identity and migration, which risks alienating other cat- egories of more liberal PN voters. While this approach has so far not resulted in any advance in polling, it has given the party a But unlike the party grandee Eddie Fenech Adami, who also pitched for working class votes, Delia has so far not moved his party to the left on social policy and he is more keen to emphasise identity issues than addressing prob- lems like rising rents and growing in- equality. NEWS ANALYSIS ADRIAN DELIA One year of Delia... Adrian Delia may have consolidated his leadership but he failed to arrest the PN's electoral decline. Is he destined to linger on as a lame duck leader or is internal consolidation a prerequisite for future growth? JAMES DEBONO assesses his achievements and failures in his first year as PN leader CAN THIS MAN In the face of a mutiny involving at least 11 MPs, Delia backtracked on his call against former leader Simon Busuttil to suspend himself from the parliamentary group following the publication of the Egrant inquiry conclusions which failed to find evidence that the PM's wife owned a secret company in Panama DEFIANTLY elected by the par- ty's rank and file despite the veto of the party's establishment, Delia promised a "new way" that would make his party electable again. His triumph in last year's in- ternal election, which saw party members voting for the first time for their leader, remains his great- est achievement so far. He barely had time for a honeymoon period when he was immediately faced with the assassination of the jour- nalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, whose legacy serves as a rallying point for his internal critics. Still during the past year, Delia has managed to slowly but stead- ily consolidate his hold on party structures. He managed to carve a distinc- tive discourse aimed at ditching his party's 'elitist' reputation and renew the party's appeal beyond its upper middle-class strong- holds. But one year on he still trails in the polls, failing to make any in- roads in Labour's electorate, and even failing to convince a sizeable number of PN voters. The general impression is that under his leadership the party is going backwards. Neither has he beefed his populist pitch with concrete policies. What has Delia achieved and failed to achieve in the past year? JAMES DEBONO DELIA'S ACHIEVEMENTS Simon Busuttil