Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1268420
12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 JULY 2020 OPINION WHEN you attempt to analyse it, this whole business of who is chosen as a political party leader to represent a large chunk of the population is often quite arbitrary. In this process, a person seems to be plucked out from obscuri- ty by fate, and dropped into a position where they have to speak and make de- cisions in the name of tens of thousands (and in other countries, in the name of millions). Sometimes they ambitiously put themselves forward, and at other times they are handpicked and pushed into the role as successors with varying degrees of success. Let us take Joseph Muscat who, despite his eventual downfall, was undeniably a success as a crowd-puller. He appeared with a wide smile out of the blue, leav- ing his comfortable lifestyle as an MEP in Brussels with his young family in tow, but was initially dismissed by many as a 34-year-old upstart who was "Alfred Sant's poodle". In the end, he breathed new life into a defeated Labour Party and could not have been further re- moved from Sant's style of politics if he had tried. His appeal lay in the fact that his life mirrored that of many younger generation, aspirational PL voters who had moved on from their parents' work- ing class roots, yet still hung on to their left-wing beliefs. On the other hand, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici was handed the reins by Dom Mintoff who resigned in 1984 because he realised he could no longer occupy the role of PM without the majority of the people behind him (in the 1981 elections Labour had won the majority of seats but the PN had won the major- ity of votes, an anomaly which led to political tension and violence). KMB, as he was colloquially known, a dour-faced bachelor, never really managed to strike a chord with the public, no matter how much the Labour Party media machine tried to make him likeable. It was not his fault; he was simply not cut out to fill anyone's shoes, least of all the gigan- tic shoes of Mintoff, who to this day is still considered a Labour icon. It also did not help matters that KMB was placed in the role of Prime Minister without ever having contested an election (he was co-opted to Parliament). For the duration of his term he was referred to sneeringly as Dr Zero (with reference to his zero number of votes). In politics, it is one's public image which counts, and KMB with his shock of white hair and military crew cut, and his perpetual scowl, left many people cold. In short, any leader who hopes to make it has to be palatable to a wide cross-section of voters. And when you have yet to surmount the hurdles of try- ing to win over your own people, you can also forget about being able to woo any floating voters who can only gaze incredulously at all the infighting being carried out in full public view. Three years down the line, it is still Groundhog Day at the PN, going around in circles over their leadership problem which has been plaguing them since 2017. As hard as it still is for many to digest, Adrian Delia was voted in by the major- ity of card-carrying members (tesserati) after the party changed its statute (the genius who suggested this new way of choosing a leader must be kicking him- self). However, it was clear from the very first time his name was mentioned that, unlike Simon Busuttil, Lawrence Gonzi, Eddie Fenech Adami and Gorg Borg Olivier, the new kid on the block was not going to be proudly anointed and taken into the loving embrace of the entire PN base. He was not going to be blessed by the benediction of a well-oiled PR machine, nor was he go- ing to be made electable by the PN poli- tician-grooming department, which for decades has always had the best people on board who knew just how to mould any potential candidate and make him leadership-worthy. In fact, the opposite happened, and the shockwaves of the first of many di- atribes against him by Daphne Caruana Galizia was like a jigger which shatters the silence as it starts breaking ground when excavation begins. The echoing reverberations of those words led to the first cracks within the party which have simply widened into an unbridgeable chasm over time. Adrian Delia came out of left-field, and no one probably expected him to win the leadership race. But he did, and there he is still, adamantly, stubbornly and some say, quite legitimately, re- fusing to be ousted by his rebel back- benchers. As I write, his future is still not certain, and neither is that of (for- mer MEP now MP) Therese Comodini Cachia, who has been wheeled out and nominated as his possible replacement. The President is still holding individual meetings with all the Opposition MPs in order to decide whether he can ap- ply article 90 of the Constitution, which The challenge of finding leaders who best represent us Josanne Cassar No matter what happens, it cannot be any more obvious that the PN as we know it will soon cease to exist: neither of the two factions will ever bow down to the other, and all needs to confirm this is to read what is said online