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6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 APRIL 2025 Roberta Metsola must decide where her future lies Editorial CHANGE for change's sake is not a motivation for people to switch political allegiance at election time. This is why anyone arguing that the next gen- eral election should not be won by the Labour Par- ty because a lack of alternation in power is bad for democracy is mistaken. People will not vote the PL out of government simply because they have been in power for so long. Democracy has never worked like that. For all its problems and defects, of which it has many, the Labour Party remains the go-to party because people still feel it offers the better al- ternative after 12 years in power. The financial standing of many middle-class families has im- proved. The party has managed to attract new faces in top roles even when change did not seem necessary. No individual problem is small enough for government to ignore. It has addressed the needs through legal and administrative changes of marginal communities such as LGBTIQ+ per- sons, women and men beset by infertility prob- lems, cohorts of people who had suffered historic income injustices because of workplace changes. And even where its economic policies fell short, such as the free-for-all in the labour market for third country nationals, it is now adjusting to try and fix the mess. Of course, there was the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Vitals hospitals scandal, the corruption linked to the payment of disability benefits and the driving tests and other cases of a dubious nature involving public officials. These will remain etched in popular psyche and will come back to haunt the government when things go wrong but on their own are not a strong enough incentive for people to simply jump ship. To convince people to switch political alle- giance, change must have a purpose. Change must have a story that tells people how they will be better off. Change must be driven by people who inspire hope in a better future. If any of these ingredients are lacking, people prefer to stick to the devil they know rather than take a ride with someone they are uncomfortable with. And herein lies the problem with the National- ist Party – it fails to excite, inspire and reassure people that it can offer a better and more serene life. Despite Bernard Grech's best efforts to foster unity after the Adrian Delia debacle, in moments of tension the cracks reappear. Individual MPs feel they can and should dictate the party's agen- da with unfiltered outbursts on social media, giv- ing the impression of a ship with more than one captain. The message conveyed to an observing elector- ate is that the PN cannot be trusted to govern itself let alone the country. To make matters worse, Grech's trust rating has continued to di- minish. Today, the PN lacks a clear purpose. It has no story that convinces people they will be better off if it were in government. And it lacks leadership that can inspire hope. MaltaToday's April survey results published last Sunday have undoubtedly shaken the PN to its core. The outcome shows that any gains made over the previous months were largely the result of the PL's failures rather than its own successes. The PN is stuck in a rut and the only person who can rise above the pettiness and command widespread respect within and outside the party is Roberta Metsola. She instils hope, is a natural with people, and more importantly can connect with a middle class that is no longer bound by political tradition. We do not agree with all she stands for. She is a conservative at heart but undoubtedly, Met- sola would serve as a catalyst to make the PN a modern European centre-right party that un- derstands the profound changes Maltese society has undergone and proposes a way forward that delivers peace of mind, better incomes, justice, secure communities and the strengthening of in- dividual freedoms. Metsola is arguably Malta's most successful ex- port on the European stage and she carries an aura of success. She is what the PN needs today if the party harbours any hope of turning the tide by the next election. But Metsola must decide whether she wants to come back to Malta to breathe new life and lead the political party that gave her the platform to achieve European success or whether she prefers the Brussels lifestyle at the risk of not having a PN to call home. Quote of the Week "I understand the discussion about the human rights convention will continue among the group of 14 like-minded countries within the EU forum but the technical people leading Malta's Council of Europe presidency will be focussed on the priorities I have outlined." Deputy Prime Minister Ian Borg effectively snubbing the prime minister who had promised EU leaders Malta would put reform of the human rights convention on its agenda when it takes over the Council of Europe presidency on 14 May. originally believed. The ground-breaking study was carried out by Scerri and Prof. Nicholas Vella. MaltaToday 10 years ago Simon survives in Labour's 54% win 19 April 2015 PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat clinched a ruling party's first ever mid-term test with 53.5% of the vote in the 2015 local elections, thanks to a veritable Labour vote tsunami in Gozo yesterday – 8.9% lower than the 17-point margin of 2012, but still convincing for a party in govern- ment. But with the exception of Gozo where the hunting lobby and the works-for-votes scandal weighed heavily on the elections, a number of southern Labour-leaning local- ities appeared to have cut Joseph Muscat down to size. The Nationalist Party narrowed the gap to a nine-point margin – enough to send its supporters in euphoric overdrive and leader Simon Busuttil claiming that his party is officially "back in business". But it lost Munxar in Gozo to Labour while gaining none of the localities lost in 2007, 2008 and 2012. And Labour also managed to win Floriana which had the only inde- pendent mayor in the country. After having overstated its losses, fearing it would lose Siggiewi, the PN's prize was holding on to traditional majorities and consolidating its hold on Mosta, which it had re-won from Labour by a whisker in 2012, and which it won by a whisker in St Paul's Bay. The result revealed the strategic na- ture of Muscat's declarations in favour of spring hunting in Gozo, where the hunt- ing community is widespread.