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CONTACT Adriana Farrugia or Erika Arrigo on 21382741 for sponsorship opportunities maltatoday NEWS of categories are taking the brunt of the pandemic. And as an election approaches it also likelier that voters will be asking which party has the best team to govern the country and preside over recovery. This suggests that for Grech to succeed he also has to renew his team. But as the shadow cabinet reshuffle showed, his current pool of talent re- mains very limited especially in key sectors like finance and the economy. But even pushing new candidates to replace incumbents comes at a risk of creating more bad blood in the parliamentary group. And unlike Muscat prior to 2013, Grech has not mesmerised the electorate with 'star candidates', which come with added value for the party. While some of these candidates – as was the case with Konrad Mizzi – ended up becoming Labour's greatest embarrassments, their presence was vital in ditching the perception that Labour was an in- ferior brand compared to the PN as was the case during most of the previous quarter of a century. Is narrowing the gap enough? One may argue that the task ahead for the PN is not that of winning power but of narrowing the gap in the next election. But voters do not usually vote for an opposition party simply to clip the wings of the governing party or to give a lease of life to the opposition. A substantial shift towards the PN will only happen when a critical mass of voters are convinced that it can govern better. Moreover the party is also more likely to attract new candidates when it is perceived to have a chance of winning. This also means that the party must start attracting careerists with no overriding mission of change. The PN is in a situation where it is too bland to attract idealists and too demoralised to attract pragmatists. Even a mainstreaming strategy comes at a risk. While Grech is trying to make his party more palat- able to different interest groups including develop- ers, hunters and hobbyists, he also risks alienating principles and insurgent voters who may abstain or opt for a third party. Reclaiming an inclusive patriotism based on a defence of the common good, and re-inventing conservatism as a defence of communities whose way of life is threatened by the commodification of landscapes and human interactions, may be key for this transformation. But where is the PN in these popular struggles as it continues chasing with the hounds and running with the hares? Even though survey shows third parties barely registering any support, the PN can't take any category of voters for granted. Come the next election, independent and even progressive voters who last time round felt com- pelled to vote for the PN or PD because of Pan- amagate may feel less obliged to back the PN this time round, especially if Abela further distances himself from the Muscat legacy. Surveys showing Grech making gains may even give the party the illusion that it is really catching up but in the absence of a renewal of the party, La- bour may well recover its lead as it mobilises its troops in the weeks closer to the election, especial- ly if it can also bank on the feel-good factor of a post-COVID recovery. than his party