Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/721047
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 31 AUGUST 2016 7 News leadership tussle in the PN ing Konrad Mizzi as a minister while still soundly beating Bu- suttil in trust ratings conducted by different polling agencies, which showed the two parties neck and neck when it comes to voting preferences. There is logic on why Labour is hitting hard at Busuttil now. It has to do with preserving its main electoral advantage: that Muscat remains more trusted than Busuttil even if his cred- ibility has been damaged. But after Panamagate Labour is no longer taking its adversary for granted. Therefore it hopes to demolish the adversary before he has any chance of recovering lost ground. For although Muscat may have survived Panamagate, the perception that his govern- ment is failing in transparency, good governance and honesty has taken deep roots. Added to this is a growing perception of Labour being too close to busi- ness interests, ignoring growing environmental and social con- cerns. The logic behind spin Muscat may have lost the moral high ground, which he enjoyed before the 2013 general election, and for Labour to win it has to press on his popular- ity by undermining Busuttil in the eyes of voters. Fully know- ing that Busuttil is here to stay at least until the next general election, Labour's tactic is that of creating the perception that Busuttil is not a leader worthy of the electorate's trust. If Busuttil is not even trusted by his MPs how can normal voters trust him? In reality Labour's spin is tar- geted at voters and not at en- couraging Nationalist MPs to challenge Busuttil; it aims at re- taining Muscat's trust lead over Busuttil in opinion polls. In fact it makes any challenge to Busuttil even more un- likely as any internal criticism of Busut- til will now be seen as a gift to Labour's spin machine. But by undermining Busuttil among PN voters, Labour com- pensates for its own problems with the 'grass roots' some of whom may be increasingly disori- ented by the party's actions in govern- ment. The potential contenders What is sure is that it is extremely unlikely for potential leadership aspirants like Clau- dio Grech or Roberta Metsola to undermine Simon Busuttil before the next general election, which would earn them a repu- tation for spoiling the party's electoral chances and be per- ceived as Labour's allies. The two deputy leaders; Mario de Marco and Beppe Fenech Ad- ami would also share the blame if the party is trounced at the next general election. If Busut- til does manage to reduce the gap substantially he may likely remain at the helm after the next general election. This may frustrate potential contenders who may bank on Busuttil los- ing heavily as their only way to force him out of the leadership. But if Labour retains the gap or increases it there may well be no pieces for an alternative PN leader to pick up. In a sense the party, including any future aspirant for the leadership, can- not afford a second consecutive "knock out" humiliation. In the absence of a change of leader now, the party has no choice but to close ranks behind Bu- suttil, to stand a real chance of winning back power, if not in 2018 sometime in 2022 or 2023. Inheriting a complete wreck is probably not in the interest of any contender with leadership aspirations. Moreover any contenders probably would not even like to become leaders before an elec- tion where the party starts with a 36,000 vote disadvantage. And while Nationalist voters may not be enthusiastic about their party's chances at the next elec- tion, they may be suspicious of any manoeuvre which under- mines party unity at a moment when they expect the party to oppose Labour. The Nationalist grassroots Labour's advantage is that the spin resonates with a sense of discontentment among 'grass root' Na- tionalists who for var- ious reasons ques- tion their leader's electability and competence. Labour's claims that Busuttil is facing an im- minent chal- lenge to his l e a d e r s h i p may be a blatant in- vention but it does tap into the d i s c o n - t ent ment of ordi- nary Na- t iona l ist voters. S u r e l y there is no pro- totype of the grass root Na- tionalist. Na- tionalist leaning commentator Simon Mercieca has lambasted the party for trying to appease liberals by not being vocal enough on issues like the depe- nalisation of vilification. Some voters in areas such as Sliema may have expected a stronger position on high-rise develop- ments while some others fear that the party is losing its links with big business. The overriding problem for Busuttil is that so far he has lacked the gravitas to give a wide coalition of liberals and conservatives an over-riding sense of purpose, which would see him exploit the shortcom- ings of the Muscat administra- tion. Unlike Fenech Adami he has not yet re-invented himself as a people's tribune confront- ing the new elite, while remain- ing the target of Labour's smear that he is part and parcel of the elite which ran Malta when the PN was in power. Instead Bu- suttil faces the complacency of many of his voters who read- ily acknowledge that as long as the economy keeps growing, a change in government remains extremely unlikely. There have been some rum- blings that suggest that not all is well in the PN. In a Facebook status, Mosta mayor Edwin Vassallo warned that egoism within the PN could cause the party to suffer a sec- ond consecutive election defeat. "Everybody in the party must get on the same page and forget about his or her own personal interests," he wrote. "If the PN remains akin to a party club in which everyone only cares about his or her own personal inter- ests, then the situation will not change. I believe that the solu- tion for this country lies in al- truism, not in egoism." But his message only confirms that the problem in the party is not that Busuttil is facing an im- minent challenge to his leader- ship but that not everyone is do- ing enough for the party to win the next election. Opposition MP Jason Azzo- pardi also shared a quote by US pastor Andy Stanley on his Fa- cebook wall, that "leaders who don't listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say". ONE interpret- ed Azzopardi 's cryptic post as a subtle warning to Simon Busut- til but one may well interpret this as a generic message, which may well apply to Muscat. All in all Labour's assault on the PN leader also betrays a degree of nervousness. For al- though the PL machine is dis- missive of the PN leader, it still keeps on harping on him as if he is a real threat. Even Fenech Adami was constantly belittled by Labour propagandists in the 1970s and 1980s. The constant attempts to belittle Busuttil may well backfire if these are seen as attempts to def lect attention from Labour's own troubles but for this to happen Busuttil must convince the electorate that he is electable, a task in which he has so far failed. Yet Labour is not taking any risks and this explains its constant attempts to undermine Busuttil 's leader- ship. Simon Busuttil Roberta Metsola