Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1290275
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 SEPTEMBER 2020 EYEWITNESS André Grech is a member of the PN executive and president SMEPN André Grech It's much more than a vote for Adrian Delia WHAT many fail to see is that many are not in truth supporting the individual, Dr Adrian Delia, but they are supporting some- thing much bigger and much more fundamental. In truth a party leader comes and goes, but the chronology of events that lead to a number of actions and decisions is written in history. It is there to stay and any leader after Dr Adrian Delia has some unprecedented reali- ties to live with. In the run-up to this campaign there are many events which will be remembered, in particular the constant crusade (with no limit) to remove Dr Adrian Delia from being party leader. At every step of the way there was a devi- ous plan to try and push him out. A number of individuals have taken it into their own hands to "save the party", using surveys and leakages and every story to push forward their agenda. One may argue that they did right because that was the call of many. However, have we stopped to think why many have been making a call to have a new leader? If Dr Adrian Delia rallied the support that any party lead- er is expected to have from his fellow colleagues, would he be where he is today? The answer to that is, most likely not. It is a cliché but unity is strength, di- vision is weakness – this cannot be more precise in these circum- stances. If the crusade by those same individuals was focused on our corrupt government, the tsuna- mi would have been on the other side of the fence not in our own home. However, just as there is no stopping a tsunami, there was no stopping this one and here we are. A broken party full of hatred and evil. Yet from both factions all you hear is the word "love for our party" – I think if this is the meaning of love the Partit Naz- zjonalista surely gave it a new definition. It is about supporting some- thing bigger: the statute of the Partit Nazzjonalista; supporting the structures, supporting de- cisions made (the decision was to have Dr Adrian Delia as par- ty leader until the next general election), supporting democracy (but even today that one candi- date was chosen from the an- ti-Delia faction, this definition has somehow now taken a new form!). It is about not allowing for any individual or any number of in- dividuals to hijack the party. We have created a very terrifying precedent and every leader to follow will lead a party knowing that what was allowed to hap- pen to Adrian Delia (and many things should not have hap- pened) can happen to them. So yes, a vote for Adrian De- lia is much more than a vote for him but a vote to make sure that every future leader is protect- ed and that no one can gang up against a leader who was elected democratically, and that no one can decide to stretch the inter- pretation of the statute to suit themselves. This is just unac- ceptable and a vote for Adrian Delia will ensure that we make a stop to this precedent. Is he prefect? Far from it. Does he have baggage? Many may sing in chorus "clearly", yet this chorus comes from all the col- ourful stories which filled many of our local papers and portals. But, have these same individuals stopped to ask how much of it has been fabricated or let us say twisted to "save the party"? Will he win us the next election? De- pends on how many will let him get on and get his plans imple- mented, and whether the tsuna- mi is shifted to where it should have been shifted years ago. However these exact same questions need to be asked on every Member of Parliament and potential candidate, because a number of individuals occupy- ing the benches of the Opposi- tion have clearly been contrib- uting to declining support – but wait, they are the ones "saving the party"! So now the members of the Partit Nazzjonalista have a very important decision to make – vote to truly be part of saving the party or be on the side of those who tried to make us believe that they are saving the party but putting forward one candidate – one – in the name of democ- racy. And to add insult to injury we have now learnt that this one candidate has skeletons in his closet; the holier-than-thou per- ception is quickly fading away. Or are we now going to expe- rience a situation where these same people who raised the bar and twisted information on the current party leader and Leader of Opposition are now deliber- ately choosing to close an eye just because he is their chosen one? We are smarter than this and the party members' vote is more than a vote for Adrian or Bernard, but a vote to stop this hijack and let a democratical- ly-elected party leader take us to the next general election with a team of people who truly have the love of the party and country at heart.