Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1536441
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 JUNE 2025 ANALYSIS The PN's wilderness years: Three leaders, Since Labour's victory in 2013, the PN has elected three leaders—one of whom was removed before facing the verdict of the electorate—lost two elections by a whopping margin, and is now on the verge of electing a fourth leader in just 12 years. JAMES DEBONO looks back at the last three leadership contests and tries to understand what lessons can the PN learn from each. SIMON Busuttil, whose fame grew as the technocratic voice and poster boy of the EU membership campaign, had already been elected as Lawrence Gonzi's deputy leader in 2012. It was a contest in which Busuttil trounced then Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, winning the support of 72.4% of councillors. He was deployed as a crucial peg in the PN's electoral strategy in 2013. But ultimately, Busuttil ended up with egg on his face in a campaign that saw him lend his image to Gonzi's colos- sal defeat. The contest: Bruised by Gonzi's defeat, Simon Busut- til was challenged by party stalwarts Mario de Marco, Francis Zammit Dimech, and wild card Raymond Bugeja. Polls by Mal- taToday showed Busuttil to be consider- ably more popular with PN voters, and De Marco more popular with floaters and Labour voters. Both candidates identified with middle-of-the-road and centrist pol- icies, with Busuttil sounding more hawk- ish towards Labour and De Marco slightly more liberal. De Marco, who had secured 38.5% of the vote, dropped out of the race after Busuttil secured 50.3% of councillors' votes in the first round. The outcome: Busuttil immediately extended an olive branch to De Marco by creating a second deputy leadership post, thus avoiding the lingering resentment that had weighed down his predecessor, Lawrence Gonzi, following his victory over a bitter John Dalli in 2004. Busuttil's other deputy lead- er was Beppe Fenech Adami. While this brought internal peace, the arrangement appeared too much like a dynastic pact between the two most powerful political families. The party plodded on, with divisions kept under wraps as it abstained from a crucial vote on civil unions for same-sex partners. The 2014 MEP elections saw the party lose by the same margin as the previous year. That changed after Labour was shaken by the Panamagate scandal in 2016, which gave Busuttil an opportunity to mobilise supporters. However, this also fed the il- lusion of a shortcut—returning the PN to power through an unprecedented coali- tion with the maverick Marlene Farrugia, who managed to get elected to parliament along with Godfrey Farrugia, without add- ing anything to the PN's pool of votes. The coalition ultimately lost by 35,280 votes—or 40,126 when PD candidates are excluded from the equation. The legacy and the lesson: Despite being defeated, Busuttil's strong stance against Labour's corruption was partly vindicated by the subsequent con- clusions of magisterial inquiries. His final act as leader was to secure his party's sup- port for marriage equality, thus closing a thorny chapter in the party's relationship with the LGBTQ community. However, as a politician, Simon Busut- til failed to provide his party with a sol- id new identity beyond opposing cor- ruption and struggled to connect with working class voters, particularly those in the southern districts. Moreover, he had already lost political currency be- fore even becoming leader. Owing to his anointment in 2012, he was not elected as a fresh face untarnished by the PN's bag- gage, but was instead remembered for his gaffes, particularly his characterisation of PL candidate Deborah Schembri as hav- ing a "Nationalist face" during a debate. He may be credited with coming to the party's rescue in its hour of need, after initially turning down an offer to become PN general secretary, but ultimately, both he and the party lost. Furthermore, defeat left him bitter and delusional in his constant hope that Jo- seph Muscat's mask would fall off to reveal Labour's ugly face. Metsola's decision not to contest the PN election could well have been motivated by fear of repeating Busut- til's fate, that of burning precious political capital to answer the PN's desperate call for a knight in shining armour to come for its rescue. The only difference is that Met- sola, now a household name in Europe, has even more political capital to lose by immersing herself in a premature, brutal mud fight with Robert Abela. Things could get even worse for Metsola if she lends her name to the PN without having full con- trol as its undisputed leader, as happened to Busuttil when he ran as Gonzi's deputy in 2013. THE 2017 electoral drubbing left the PN stunned, with Busuttil assuming respon- sibility and vacating the post—thus trig- gering an open contest in which, for the first time in the party's history, its mem- bership had the final say. This triggered an insurgency personified by Adrian De- SIMON THE ANOINTED DELIA THE INSURGENT