I’m glad that the Nationalist Party is discussing what the hell is wrong with it. We have long been repeating ad naseaum why the PN can’t make inroads with the electorate while the Labour Party is in meltdown. Here’s a quick reminder:
1. PN is too conservative for the society of today and tomorrow
This is very simple and a matter of simple mathematics and demographics and not a matter of opinion. Holding dear religious values at the expense of the Party’s and national interests is illogical but here we are. The number of people who are in favour of the legalisation of abortion will only keep increasing. A large number of people in Malta will not vote for a Party which has a misogynistic position on abortion and the sooner PN realises this, the better. PN can easily compromise with its religious values by allowing decriminlisation and stopping short of legalisation. PN has to approach this issue with a sense of religious empathy and not religious zealotry. If I was the Secretary-General of PN I would force all MPs to brush up their reading of Saint Thomas Aquinas before re-considering their position on abortion.
2. PN is not considered a serious alternative to the government
PN has some serious people with a lot of integrity like Mark Anthony Sammut but it has also a lot of MPs who contribute nothing to politics and PN can’t afford to have these kinds of politicians. Politicians like Mario De Marco and Carm Mifsud Bonnici are contributing nothing to the political struggle and should make way for younger upstarts who are more motivated. Additionally, PN needs to get serious on many issues – proposing simplistic ideas like “the liberalisation” of the electricity distribution shows that PN is still trying to figure out what needs to be done. There needs to be coherent and well-drawn plans after discussions with many people and entities.
3. Where’s the fire?
Something PN is failing to do is to provide the fire of a strong and resistant Opposition. PN allows itself to be humiliated by the bullshit propaganda and fake theatre of the Labour Party. I remember back then when I was still in Labour when Daphne Caruana Galizia used to criticize Simon Busuttil for being too nice, saying that although Busuttil’s character is the appropriate one in private and public settings, it is not appropriate for the setting of Maltese politics where victories are built on the verbal evisceration of your opponent. PN is still stuck with the “nice guy” mentality.
4. PN needs to learn from PP + Vox failure
PN needs to learn from PP’s failure in winning the government due to its association with the lunatics of Vox. Although the majority of the Spanish clearly voted for a new economic and social model as opposed to the socialists’ way of doing things, PP could not get the absolute majority because voters made it absolutely clear they were not going to tolerate far-right lunatics. This will probably enable Sanchez to form another very shaky and unstable coalition government with the communists. So the signs are explicitly obvious and these trends are also very similar in Malta – despite the fact that PN is considered more serious than Labour, PN risks remaining in Opposition if it is associated with far-right lunatics who peddle anti-abortion misogyny, conspiracies and other lunatic ideas.
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