Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1330252
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 JANUARY 2021 INTERVIEW of family-friendly measures – we don't even have a childcare centre here – and even just the fact that local MPs are part-timers. This affects women and men alike: everyone has other commitments – profession, the family, etc. – and their job as parliamentarian invar- iably comes after all that. You can- not do serious work as a part-time MP. It should be a full-time job… Ultimately, though: if we are go- ing to discuss a new law, it is use- less to just increase the number of parliamentary seats by another 12. How is that going to attract more women to politics? They'll just say: 'Who cares? I do want to be in politics: just not under those con- ditions, that's all…'. So I don't think this law, on its own, is going to serve its function at all. Because what we all want is more women contesting elec- tions… not more seats in Parlia- ment. Let's face it, however: a political party doesn't need a33 law to impose its own gender-balance quotas… what is stopping parties from doing that? We could do that, yes. We could set a self-imposed quota. But the issue here – and it has more to do with the electoral system, than with the parties themselves – is that: let's say we had a 30% quo- ta at district level, so we'd need seven men and three women in a particular district. We get them. Then, at the eleventh hour, a par- ticular local [male] doctor would turn up, asking to contest. And he'd w able to get at least 500 first- count votes in that district. But we'd end up having to turn him away, just because the quota had already been met… Hang on, but that's true of quo- tas in general. In fact, it echoes a line of criticism often directed at the quota system (not only when applied to gender): that it is 'un- meritocratic'. Yet both National- ist and Labour Parties agree with a quota system for women. How do you explain the contradiction? I see your point, but I'm talking realpolitik here. Our electoral sys- tem is such that: whoever gets the most number ones, governs. Sim- ple as that. It's a be-all or end-all scenario. So as long as the elec- toral system remains unchanged, in that respect, it's not something you can afford to ignore… Coming back to a point you men- tioned earlier: confrontation. You yourself hinted that women may be 'put off' by the intensity of lo- cal political tribalism. Yet the Op- position is not doing very much to tone down the confrontation, is it? Hardly a week goes by with- out an intensely divisive issue, tearing the two sides apart… … but you can't exactly expect politics without confrontation, can you? What would it even mean: that we have to keep our mouths shut about everything? That if the government does bad things… the Opposition keeps quiet? No, but there are other ways to express disagreement; and some people out there may have expected a different approach, from a newly-elected party leader who had started out by expressing disagreement with tribalism… I agreed with Bernard Grech at the time; and I don't think he has changed that opinion in any way. But Maltese politics is confronta- tional; it would be futile denying it. Whether it is too confronta- tional to attract more women – or good people, in general – per- haps, yes. But the real problem, as I see it, is not the confrontation that takes place in Parliament. At that level, it is still a clash of ideas. The real problem is on the so- cial media. Yesterday, Minister Edward Zammit Lewis made a good speech about this in Parlia- ment: he argued that personal at- tacks on the social media are put- ting people off politics… not just women, but people in general. And he's right. It is on the social media that people are getting de- stroyed; witch-hunts are taking place; people's families are being targeted… and I'm not saying this is happening only on one side. Let me clear. What I'm saying is that, unfor- tunately – because there are a lot of gains to be made from social media – it has ended up pushing people away from politics… On to a slightly different topic now: our most recent survey yielded the best result for the PN since Bernard Grech took over in October. Yet while the gap has been reduced, it also shows that the Nationalist Party would still lose an election by around 30,000 votes. Is the PN ready to face Abela's Labour at the polls? Actually, your polls – to which I give a lot of credence – placed the difference between the par- ties at around 26,000. Now: am I satisfied with that? No, of course not. I think that the gap should be much closer; and I also think the aim should be to beat Labour, whenever the election is held. And it's doable… Our survey suggests the oppo- site however… Does it? I'm not so sure. One of the most positive results of that survey was that – for the first time – the PN has overtaken La- bour in the youths demographic. I don't want to get too optimis- tic about it: we have to wait and see if the results will be repeated, before we can call them a 'trend'. Up to now, it's not a trend… just a one-off. But there are other trends: that Bernard's trust-rating shooting up, is a trend; that the PN's reten- tion rates are growing, is a trend. It's also a trend that the PN is gaining more and more ground in the North Harbour Area. So the survey does give us a lot rea- son to be optimistic. But there are other factors, too. The natural cycle of Maltese poli- tics is for the ruling party to show signs of electoral fatigue around mid-way through its second term. We are in the eighth year of the cycle, and these signs are now showing. Robert Abela is not Joseph Muscat: we have a prime minister who is making very basic mistakes; not admitting his flaws; who thinks he knows everything… On the other hand, the Nation- alist Party under Bernard Grech – who's only been in the job for four months – is already achiev- ing positive results… and the parliamentary group is united behind him. Is it really, though? What about all the tesserati who tore up their PN membership cards… and – if I may add a more personal note to that – as someone who was a firm supporter of Delia your- self… how do you reconcile that with your present loyalty to Ber- nard Grech? First of all, Adrian Delia re- mains part of the team, and he is contributing… He certainly contributed a lot to L-Istrina this year… and again, wasn't that just a stunt to re- mind us that he's still a thorn in Bernard Grech's side? [Shrugs] That was blown out of proportion. But let's not go into that. The point is that these peo- ple you are referring to as Adrian Delia's supporters... in the last three months, they are beginning to see results. And I know, be- cause I am one of them. It wasn't easy for me to turn to Delia and say, 'Listen, I think it would be better if you were no longer PN leader'… but the simple reason I did it, was that the figures were showing us that we stood no chance at all. Was it his fault? Probably not. But in my position, I had to keep my feet on the ground. I had to tell him, to his face: 'Adrian, we're not going to make it. You have to step down, and give somebody else a chance'. And I damaged my own politi- cal career by doing that. I could have stayed quiet, kept a low profile, and waited until the in- evitable election defeat. And I would have probably been elect- ed straight away. But the interests of the party demanded otherwise. The inter- ests of the country demanded otherwise. What we needed was an Opposition that could pres- ent itself as a credible, alternative government. And the numbers we are now experiencing – four months down the line – are bearing me out. I know a lot of people were angry with me for taking that stand: understandably, because of their love for the party leader. But today, they are seeing things differently…. Meanwhile, rumour has it the next election may be next June. Do you think the PN can real- istically turn things around by then? Yes, we are ready. Everything's set to go. We already have 70 candidates already approved. We are discussing our policies as we speak… and once the whistle is blown, we will put together an electoral manifesto, the like of which has never been seen be- fore... PHOTO: JAMES BIANCHI / MALTATODAY