Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1464183
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 APRIL 2022 8 INTERVIEW Matthew Vella mvella@mediatoday.com.mt There must be something very wrong with the PN's attitude While the results of the last election were dismal for the PN, the same cannot be said about your own performance. After having been deposed as PN leader two years ago, not only did you get elected from two districts; but many of the MPs who rebelled against your leadership, either fared poor- ly, or failed to get elected at all. How do you interpret the significance of your own elec- toral result? Let me put it this way: when you try and analyse the data of an election, there are a num- ber of things you need to look at. First, there is the impres- sion you get from people in the street; and the perceived reactions that you also pick up from tabloids, newspapers, etc. Then, there is the raw scientific data. And there are several aspects to both. In fact, my own first reaction – fresh after the elec- tion result – was a [Facebook post] about the 'Day of Reflec- tion'. My point was that: on the Friday before voting, we give the electorate a 'Day of Reflec- tion' for voters. But shouldn't we – the politicians – also have at least one 'Day of Reflection'? When there is so much for us to reflect about? Was that your only reaction, though? Did you not celebrate your own success in private, having been elected in two districts? No, I didn't; and I'll tell you why. It's a question of 'mixed reactions'. Don't forget that [in an election campaign] you will never be on your own. Not just at the counting hall; but also at those moments when you rush home, to maybe get something to eat… at all times, you will be surrounded by other people. There will be your own volun- teers; your own team; and then, the people of the party. Because there are two races going on, in any election: your own personal race; and the race of the party as a whole. So when you see that your own party… I won't say 'lost'; because that, in itself, was not unexpected. I don't think there was any real surprise, there… but looking at the overall result, it is ob- vious that there will be mixed reactions. On one hand, [the election showed that] people recognised the validity of what I was saying; but at the same time, my own party fell behind; and fell behind, by a lot… When you say 'people rec- ognised the validity of what you were saying'; doesn't that mean that they also rejected what others in your party said about you? Do you feel any sense of what the Germans call 'schadenfreude': taking pleasure, in the displeasure of others? I'm not that type of person, really. I'm more the type who takes pleasure, when the coun- try is doing well. I always say – and this is something that is said by many voters, at both poles of the political spectrum – that the country cannot 'do well', when there is only one winning party that gets to dom- inate everything, with an even larger majority. Because that becomes 'dom- ination'; which is not a good thing, in itself; and which clear- ly does not benefit anybody… But this election illustrated more than just a record de- feat for the Nationalist Party. It also revealed that both La- bour and PN alike seem to be losing their appeal with the electorate. Labour lost 8,700 votes; and the PN – which was already in free-fall, through- out the campaign – lost almost 12,000. How do you account for that? There were 51,000 who didn't vote; around nine thousand who invalidated their ballots; and others who voted either Labour or Pn in the past, who voted for smaller parties this time. Now: some of those may have been people who were complaining [about specific is- sues]; but some of them were also using their vote to send out a specific message. But I can't tell you exactly what this message was, in each and every case; for that, you need to look into who these people actually are; and talk to them. But yes: the major parties are certainly in decline. Not just in Malta, but everywhere in Eu- rope. We, perhaps, tend to take a little more time, to reach the stage where established parties get weaker; and smaller parties – which, in certain countries, unfortunately also include those at the extreme ends of the spectrum – get stronger. On top of that, there is also the impact of the 16-18-year- olds [who were given the right to vote for the first time]. Un- fortunately, we don't have pre- cise scientific data in hand; but what I heard on my house-vis- its – and from friends, and oth- er parents like myself – was mostly along the lines that: 'My kids are not even bothered to go out and vote.' That could al- so be part of the phenomenon. What is certain, however – and this is something I saw, heard, and felt myself – is that there were disgruntled Labour- ites, who didn't want to vote for their own government this time round: so much so, that the La- bour Party made a tremendous effort, at a certain time on vot- ing day, to bring out the vote. But these had no interest in voting for the PN, either. Then, there were people who had voted Nationalist in 2017 – and I don't even call them 'Na- tionalists' any more: they are simply people who have tradi- tionally voted PN in the past – who are clearly not happy… For former PN leader ADRIAN DELIA, the electorate's message was crystal-clear. It's not that Maltese voters are 'comfortable with corruption'; it's that they're uncomfortable with the attitude of a party that refuses to acknowledge its mistakes