Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1071614
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 16 JANUARY 2019 NEWS ANALYSIS ON Sunday Joseph Muscat stopped short of expressing sup- port for embattled Opposition leader Adrian Delia who is fac- ing internal pressure to resign after he was accused by his wife of domestic violence and follow- ing further revelations on his personal financial situation, but took the PN's troubles as an op- portunity to question the demo- cratic credentials of those trying to unseat Delia. "The PN's members chose a leader but it is clear that the powers that be within the PN don't respect this decision," he said at a political rally in Ħaż- Żabbar. In so doing Muscat may be more interested in affirming his leadership among a category of former PN voters who see in Delia's fate the confirmation of the politics of exclusion by the party's old guard. "There are people behind the scenes in the PN who believe that only their opinions are valid and that democracy is only rele- vant when the people agree with them. It's a trait that betrays them and is extremely danger- ous." What does this say about Mus- cat's intentions? 1. Muscat may be simply sowing more chaos in the PN's house. Muscat fully knows that Delia has been undermined by internal critics who constantly hint at Delia's role as a double agent who is in collusion with the government. Recently even an innocuous selfie of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Opposition leader Adrian De- lia who happened to bump into each other while watching the Maltese football team was inter- preted by the Democratic Party and Manuel Delia as a sign of "collusion". It is obvious that any words of support from Muscat to Delia only help to confirm this nar- rative. In this case Muscat has avoided actually supporting De- lia but has lashed at the frame of mind of those opposing him. In this way he strayed away from the criticism that he is taking the side of someone accused of domestic violence. Yet at the same time Muscat's calculated words are bound to be interpreted by the anti-Delia faction as proof of collusion be- tween the two political leaders. This obviously weakens De- lia who over the past months has done everything possible to prove himself internally by taking a very firm stance on 17 Black and corruption. Even in his more recent trou- bles Delia has done his best to throw the tables back on inter- nal critics by describing them as "Labour's allies." 3 reasons why Muscat defended Delia's On Sunday the Prime Minister lashed out against the anti-democratic 'mind frame' of those in the PN who question Adrian Delia's mandate by party members. JAMES DEBONO examines what could be the intention of Muscat's incursion into the PN's internal troubles, knowing full well that any word of support for Delia is immediately interpreted by the anti-Delia faction as confirmation of collusion between the two leaders Muscat may be more interested in affirming his leadership among a category of former PN voters who see in Delia's fate the confirmation of the politics of exclusion by the party's old guard Adrian Delia's new way has resulted in a thawing of relations between the leaders of the two rival parties, restoring a semblance of civil confrontation