Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1208901
5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 FEBRUARY 2020 OPINION NATIONALIST Party leader Adrian Delia would be a per- fect subject for a psychological investigation right now (with- out trying to cast aspersions on mental health…). What I mean is that politically, apart from his denial and inability to read the writing on the wall, it is clear that the former high -flying lawyer is living in a de- lusional world of his own. He cannot quite fathom that the whole world around him is collapsing and crumbling, and that he is being abandoned by the people who sustained him and gave him their unflinching support. He is hanging on just like a besieged sovereign reluctant to acknowledge that his days are numbered. It appears that Delia has no- where to go, but also nothing to lose if he goes down with the sinking ship and takes with him the crew, the guests and the string quartet. Given such trying circum- stances, putting him under pressure and leaving him with little room for manoeuvre, to describe Delia as an egotist and self-centred megaloma- niac would not be very dis- tant from the truth. He talks of having been elected by the members of the party and in- sists that only the members can remove him, but since his election his ratings at the polls have been dismal, pathetic, and short of disastrous. His MPs are against him. Enough said. So Delia is simply unwilling to accept the facts and the re- alities he faces. Indeed, he is lying when he says he has par- liamentary backing. He told his parliamentary group that he would consider their demands for him to step down. Five minutes later he was telling the press that he would be staying on. He was presented with a declaration by – allegedly – 17 MPs, which if confirmed would represent the majority of the parliamen- tary group, stating that they no longer supported him; and he reacted to this by saying that he had the support of the ma- jority of his MPs. He went on TVM saying that he was fully cognisant of the science of surveys and referred to his own party's surveys when in truth the PN does not carry out any surveys an- ymore. He suggested that the Malta- Today survey had got the lead- ership results between Robert Abela and Chris Fearne wrong when in fact the survey did get it right by putting Abela ahead, in contrast to all the other sur- veys leaked to the press in the weeks prior to the election. He claimed that his signature to a legal document which forms the basis of allegations that he set up a tax avoidance structure as lawyer had been falsified, when all the facts show that it was his signature. He denied being investigat- ed by the FIAU, when in fact he was. More importantly he talks repeatedly of ethical standards in politics, when he applies a different yardstick to himself. The truth, and this has been said several times over, is that Delia cannot win the hearts of Nationalists, let alone that of the middle-ground. He is a loser. And he should be the first to understand this reality: in football, a world which he is keenly attuned to as the former president of Birkirkara FC, the success and retention of a coach is intrinsical- ly linked to the victories notched up by the football team as well as the happi- ness of the players with the coach or manager. Take Mourinho as the prime example (although he did win trophies even with the teams that sacked him) – he fell out with players and ad- ministration at Real Madrid, Chelsea, Manchester Unit- Delia has no credibility and no chance in hell of rebuilding the party. He thinks that his delivery, affable nature and presence are good enough reasons for him to stay on Saviour Balzan Delia is delusional. He cannot rebuild the PN @saviourbalzan ed. Or take Man Utd itself… Moyes, Van Gaal, Mourinho, and now teetering on the brink, Solskjaer – all chang- es taking place since 2013! You get the drift… the PN's player-manager has lost too many matches to retain the right to keep on leading this team. Since his leadership, the PN has recorded defeat after de- feat. At a time when the PN should have emerged high in the polls and garnered sup- port, instead it has been los- ing out. And though policy goes a long way in explaining the PN's unattractive- ness, Delia is the major reason for this electoral calam- ity. Delia has no credibility and no chance in hell of re- building the party. He thinks that his delivery, affable na- ture and presence are good enough reasons for him to stay on. He is right on the self-criticism and humility the PN needs. But the ca- tastrophe he presides over gives him no way out of this mess. Here we are experiencing one of Malta's most perva- sive scandals involving the office of the Prime Minister. And instead of putting coun- try before one's personal in- terests, we are spectators to a despondent Opposition that is led by a narcissist. This is not the time for qui- et diplomacy or intelligent discussion in the hope of some breakthrough. If those who cherish democracy love their country in any way, they surely accept the fact that change cannot happen without facing the inevitable. Nothing is more sacred than the better good and today it is clear that Delia only stays on for his own self-preservation. He has to go. Delia should consult the Mourinho playbook