Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1293199
8 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 30 SEPTEMBER 2020 ANALYSIS The PN on Sunday morning As from next Sunday, the PN will certainly have a male, conservative lawyer with a tax baggage as leader who will be facing another lawyer leading Labour. How will the PN wake up on Sunday morning? asks JAMES DEBONO If Delia wins... Delia will now want carte blanche to shape party in his image There can be no half corners for Delia this time around. His re-election will give him the legitimacy to clamp down on dissent and promote his own team. This will not be easy con- sidering that Delia lacks a ma- jority in the PN's parliamentary group. But his re-election would give Delia the carte blanche he needs to impose his 'new way' in the party. The only problem is that Delia has never explained what that new way really means and his attempts to impose his authority and censure critics may well sow further divisions. While a Delia victory may well silence the rebels, one possible risk would be placing the anti-Delia camp in hiberna- tion and deprive him of any support in the forthcoming election where he would be left to sink. His restricted support in the parliamentary group also makes it impos- sible for him to form a shadow cabinet, which does not include internal critics. The PN will try the immigration card again As he did before MEP elections, Delia will most likely focus on reducing migra- tion and foreign workers in any forthcom- ing election. This strategy did not pay off in the past years. But unshackled by the more liberal wing of his party, Delia may lurch further to the right. But it remains unlikely that Delia would question Malta's international obligations towards asylum seekers. The PN will be at the mercy of the Yorgen Fenech's WhatsApp chats Delia will still face a storm im- mediately after being re-elected, following the expected release of hundreds of WhatsApp messag- es from Yorgen Fenech's phone, which reportedly includes hun- dreds of messages of Delia's close aide Pierre Portelli. If these messages confirm any donations from Fenech after his 17 Black ownership was exposed, De- lia's position would become once again untenable. But vindicated by the vote of party members, Delia would probably stay on while the chances of a split in his party would increase. The rebels will lose legitimacy A Delia victory would reflect the unpop- ularity of the rebels and their antics even among the restricted coterie of PN mem- bers. It would stand as a clear message on them to shut up and stay out of the way of the party leader. Rank-and-file party supporters would frown upon any further dissent in the party as sabotage. MPs who have openly defied Delia may well have to either resign or eat humble pie. Labour's broadside against Delia will intensify Labour would probably be all too hap- py to have the tried-and-tested Delia re- maining PN leader. During the campaign Labour pundits like Robert Musumeci showed a clear preference for Delia in an attempt to lure his disgruntled supporters to Labour after a probable Grech victory. But if Delia defies the odds and wins, La- bour would not balk at routing out Delia with all the ammunition it has in the same way it would treat Grech.