Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1464426
8 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 13 APRIL 2022 AS things stand, with nobody apart from Grech expressing an interest in the post of party leader, the PN is heading to a one-horse race in which rank and file party members will not even have a say. This is because party statute stipulates that the party leader only needs a majority among the 1,600 party councilors if no- body else contests. This implies that if re-elected Grech's new mandate will not carry the le- gitimacy of a plebiscite amongst members. But Grech's position has been strengthened by the election of 17 new MPs who were elected for the first time to parliament. This provides him with a wider talent pool from which to pick a shadow cabinet. The question is whether after being soundly beaten as party leader, Grech is an enabler of change or a deadweight. One mission accomplished: generational renewal After massive electoral de- feats in 2013 and 2017 the in- cumbents resigned and were replaced by new leaders; Simon Busuttil in 2013 and Adrian De- lia in 2017. Yet on both occasions the par- ty had failed to substantially renew its crop of parliamenta- ry representatives, denying the new leader the opportunity of building a credible alternative 'shadow cabinet' made up of new faces freed of past baggage. For one of the stumbling blocks for the PN is that, compared to Labour – which kept renewing itself – voters did not see in the PN anything remotely resem- bling a government in the mak- ing. Ironically, the party now finds itself in a different position. De- spite losing with an even greater margin then in 2017, on election day the Nationalist Party elect- ed eight brand new MPs includ- ing new district heavyweights like Joe Giglio, Mark Anthony Sammut, Alex Borg and Jerome Caruana Cilia. It also elected five new MPs in casual elections and four brand new female MPs through the corrective gender mechanism. In this sense while Grech failed in his main mission of re- ducing the gap, he succeeded in the mission to renew his troops. Moreover, the new candidates hail from across the party's fac- tional and ideological divides. And while by losing big Grech may have denied the party a re- alistic chance to win in 2027, by enabling this generational re- newal he may have set the train in motion for a reduced gap in 2027 and possibly a change in government in 10 years' time. This gives the party leader an opportunity to build a team The PN paradox: Renewal under a beaten leader Bernard Grech failed in his main mission of reducing the gap while succeeding in enabling a generational change on the party's parliamentary bench. But is he the right leader to transform his party in to an alternative government? asks James Debono