Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1068299
7 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 JANUARY 2019 ed at least till elections due in May. One risk of this strategy is that a larger chunk of PN vot- ers will not give a preference to all the party's candidates. This would further endanger any prospect of the party re- taining its third seat due to a lack of vote transfers. Yet while the PN has man- aged to field an interesting mix of candidates for the MEP elections – reaffirm- ing the PN's traditional role as big tent party – Delia has so far failed in refashioning the party in his image. Ironi- cally, by not overplaying his hand as Busuttil did before him, Delia has shown his best when confronting Muscat on corruption and 17 Black. In fact Delia's greatest achieve- ment so far has been his abil- ity to take the government to the cleaners without showing the sort of contempt towards Muscat and Labour support- ers, which alienated Busuttil from voters. In a country suffering from political fatigue after a high- ly divisive election in 2017, Delia's 'new way' may have struck a chord even if it has so far not translated in any inroads among floaters and Labour voters. One reason for this is the widespread per- ception that the PN is a di- vided house. Moreover in a context where Labour continues to enjoy popular support despite the accusations of corruption, Delia still struggles to find an alternative battle cry. Delia has tried to exploit discon- tentment on migration at the risk of pushing the party fur- ther to the right. Lately Delia toned down his message, fo- cusing on the sustainability of the increase in population, at the risk of sounding bland. Moreover in a bid to placate to social conservatives, De- lia ended up voting against a domestic violence bill simply because it made no mention of the unborn. Despite of- ficial denials, the party also keeps crying wolf on the gov- ernment's intentions to intro- duce abortion, with the latest bizarre twist in party organ il- Mument linking Muscat with "elements in Occupy Justice" who favour abortion. What will happen if Delia loses heavily? While tactically Delia can- not afford to give any indica- tion that he would abandon ship if his party suffers heavy losses as this would encourage a segment of PN voters who can't stand him to abstain, if he stays on after such a heavy defeat, he risks condemning the party to oblivion. In the scenario of the party losing ground over its already bad performance in 2014, De- lia would be even more vul- nerable to a leadership chal- lenge if he persists on staying on. But the prospect of a leader- ship challenge would depend on the willingness of any can- didate to throw his or her name in the hat to lead the party in desperate times, ful- ly knowing that he has little chance of winning in the next general election. In the absence of this Delia may well stay on as a lame duck leader. If Delia resigns out of his own free will, the party may well opt for an interim leader who would be entrusted with re-organising the party until a new leader can be elected. Such a leader must be some- one who has no leadership ambitions of his own. This would also give the party more time to assess the situation in the rival camp, especially if Joseph Muscat vacates the Labour leadership and a leadership contest fol- lows. For in that case the PN would needs a leader who is a match for Labour's new lead- er. Electing an interim leader would give the PN the oppor- tunity to weigh its option in view of whether Muscat de- cides to stay or go. Delia's greatest achievement so far has been his ability to take the government to the cleaners without showing the sort of contempt towards Muscat and Labour supporters, which alienated Busuttil from voters