Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1532272
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 FEBRUARY 2025 ANALYSIS Abela's tribal entrenchment: Rallying The MEP elections should have been a wake-up call for Labour not to neglect the growing number of voters with no tribal attachments. Instead, over the past few weeks, Robert Abela has doubled down on his attempts to rally the hardcore against the "extremist" opposition. What lies behind this ugly turn of events? JAMES DEBONO asks. THE country is not doing bad- ly. The economy keeps growing, workers' pay cheques have re- ceived a budget boost, and despite soaring inequalities and pockets of poverty, austerity as government policy is now a distant memory. Sure, the economic model that made this possible is increasingly questioned, and while the gov- ernment is keeping a lid on social tensions by throwing money at the situation, it lacks the resolve to address inequality —arguably the most pressing yet overlooked issue today. Still, Abela deserves credit for steering Malta through times of crisis. But instead of focusing on his track record, Robert Abela has embarked on a head-on collision with the Opposition and civil soci- ety on governance issues – namely by introducing a regressive reform of magisterial inquiries, which diminishes the right of common citizens to request an inquest into apparent wrongdoing. While the reform is craftily por- trayed as a way to curtail the abuse of this instrument by the maverick Jason Azzopardi, the proposed Bill risks having a chilling effect on the citizenry, who will first have to wait for the police to investigate and even risk paying court ex- penses if their claims are not sub- stantiated. In the end, we all know that it is only thanks to magisterial inquiries triggered by requests made by Opposition politicians like Simon Busuttil and David Ca- sa, and NGO Repubblika that we are now wiser about the scandal- ous hospital deal and opaque off- shore structures like 17 Black. Abela also continues to dilly-dal- ly on media reforms intended to protect journalists. The gov- ernment recently blocked an Opposition amendment to the anti-SLAPP law that would have offered protection to journalists from SLAPP cases introduced in local courts. Significantly, Abe- la has become fiercer in his lan- guage, pitting his party against "the forces of darkness" and the Opposition's politics of "hatred" and "envy." Why this strategy now? One reason is the timing. This is the last full year before the coun- try enters electoral mode. In short, it is the ideal time for Abela to ral- ly the troops before reaching out to the wider electorate in the final year of his administration. Anoth- er reason is that after the Clayton Bartolo debacle, Abela seems ad- amant on not being put in a posi- tion of having to kick out another cabinet member. In short, he can- not afford to keep losing pieces and put in a situation where he has no choice but to punish fellow Labourites. One reason is the timing, as it marks the final full year before the country shifts into electoral mode. In short, it is the ideal time for Abela to rally the troops before reaching out to the wider elector- ate in the final year of his admin- istration. Another reason is that after the Clayton Bartolo debacle, Abela seems adamant about not being put in a position of having to kick out another cabinet member. In short, he cannot afford to keep losing pieces and be put in a situa- tion where he has no choice but to punish fellow Labourites. The worms are coming out of the woodwork The risk is that Abela may be conjuring devils he cannot con- trol. His divisive actions and statements risk bringing out the worms from the party's wood- work—worms that could ulti- mately eat away at the founda- tions of the movement created by his predecessor, Joseph Muscat, in his best days. The tragicomic scene of a former PN propagandist, once deployed to provoke trade union militants like Tony Zarb, hounding Jason Azzo- pardi over a parking spot in Sliema is a reminder of how this strategy can go awry—especially if Stagno Navarra becomes a role model for others. Stagno Navarra's antics are not isolated. Neville Gafà's place- ment of anti-Daphne posters on the makeshift shrine dedicated to her in front of the law courts risked resurrecting ugly memories of when the state itself tried to cleanse the monument before Abela cou- rageously intervened to stop this nonsense in his first days as Prime Minister when his popularity was also soaring in opinion polls. Ironically, one major trigger for Abela's relapse into tribalistic confrontation was the result of the MEP elections last June. The result robbed Labour of its super- majority and weakened Abela's authority within his own party. Abela had to contend with blog- gers like Neville Gafà, who openly challenged his leadership, and had to work out a compromise with the Muscat faction to ward off a Jason Micallef candidacy for the deputy leader post. The only way out of this impasse was to start the new year by upping his divisive tone and deliberately creating an issue that pits him against Muscat loyalists' bête noires: Repubblika and Jason Azzopardi. In doing so, however, he risks alienating others who, while wary of Jason Azzopardi's kamikaze antics, are also concerned about the erosion of checks and balances and are in- creasingly turned off by the toxic political climate. Ironically, one major trigger for Abela's relapse into tribalistic confrontation was the result of the MEP elections last June. The result robbed Labour of its supermajori- ty and weakened Abela's authority within his own party. Abela had to contend with bloggers like Neville Gafà, who openly challenged his leadership, and had to work out a compromise with the Muscat fac- tion to ward off a Jason Micallef candidacy for the deputy lead- er post. The only way out of this impasse was to start the new year by adopting a more divisive tone and deliberately creating an issue that would set him against Muscat loyalists' bête noire: Repubblika. In doing so, however, he risks al- ienating others who, while wary of Jason Azzopardi's kamikaze and divisive antics, are also concerned about the erosion of checks and balances and are turned off by the toxic political climate. Ironically, while Abela seeks to shore up support among his own extremists to save his skin after a devastating electoral drubbing in the mid-terms, he is ignoring the root causes of his party's debacle. Lessons from a failed campaign For Abela had used the same