As the entire country waits with bated breath to see who will lead the Nationalist Party, it is currently every local journalist’s duty to dig up every relevant detail they can find about the lead contenders for this role.
The fact is that this is the Nationalist Party’s most important leadership election in its history.
With that in mind, I decided to write a series of articles – hence the working title, the verdict – about whoever puts their name forward for this leadership election.
The hypothesis that underpinned this analysis is this: does the prospective leader have the necessary qualities to turn the Nationalist Party into a convincing alternative that can address the country’s systemic problems?
In my view, these are the five qualities that the next leader of the Nationalist Party absolutely cannot do without.
Though this list is far from conclusive, I believe that anyone who can score at least a pass mark on all the below criteria would have a real shot at taking the party into a new direction.
While it is impossible to expect a perfect messiah to just turn around the party on their own without the collaboration of a solid parliamentary group, the fact is that extraordinarily desperate times require individuals to step up in an extraordinary manner.
Anything less will lead to the party’s inevitable demise.
The criteria:
– A clean track record. Anything short of a glowing resume and a lack of baggage must be rejected. The Nationalist Party cannot afford to have yet another leader with too many skeletons in their closet.
– Someone who can break the mould and serve as the face of an alternative vision that provably addresses systemic problems. Anyone who even remotely feels like more of the same will never be able to cement the impression that the party’s spirit is being renewed.
– Star power. A total newcomer who would need to slowly build up rapport with the electorate would be dead in the water before the starting gun goes off.
– Someone who is eloquent and creative. The Nationalist Party needs someone who can improvise, adapt, and overcome on the spot while delivering a consistent, nuanced message to the electorate.
– A leader who is willing to go all in against corruption. The new leader would need to start by purging the Nationalist Party of its own grandees, mainly by rooting out old patronage networks and rebuilding from scratch. This can only be done by someone whose commitment to anti-corruption is absolutely unwavering. The slightest indication of uncertainty will prove fatal.
Adrian Delia
Given that former leader Adrian Delia was the first to declare his intent to run for leadership, the verdict starts with him.
Based on the criteria outlined above and a thorough analysis of Delia’s career since he first joined the fray in 2017, my opinion is that he is not fit for the job at hand.
Here’s why I think so.
Track record
Adrian Delia’s swearing in ceremony in 2017, which he attended late after being caught out shopping for a suit at the time he was supposed to be sworn in. Photo: DOI (Omar Camilleri)
Saying that Delia’s track record is “concerning” would be putting it mildly.
His history is so contentious that, tellingly, one of the first things he emphasised in comments to the press after announcing his bid was that he has evolved as a politician and that he’s learned a lot from his mistakes.
That may well be the case. Having said that, one cannot ignore Delia’s conduct in the three tumultuous years in which he was in charge of the Nationalist Party.
Much like disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat back when he assumed the seat of party leader in 2008, Delia was forced to rely on a non-electoral route to Parliament when he was first elected.
After telling the press that arrangements had been made to clear a path, Delia’s team quickly realised that sitting MPs were reluctant to give up their hard-earned seats.
At the same time, former PN assistant secretary-general Jean-Pierre Debono was facing accusations of tampering with several elector votes during the leadership election that propelled Delia straight to the top of the Nationalist Party.
Daphne Caruana Galizia, who had just published a series of articles about Delia’s alleged role as a professional money launderer on behalf of a Soho-based prostitution ring, had also accused Delia and his team of leaking evidence of Debono’s fraudulent behaviour – with the intent of cornering the MP into resigning.
While both Delia and Debono vehemently denied all accusations, Debono did eventually resign to make way for Delia to formally assume the position of leader of the opposition.
When the dust settled, concerns about Delia’s finances lingered.
As detailed in this lengthy interview with the Times of Malta from 2017, at the time, the newly appointed leader had €728,000 in personal debts (with an additional €40,000 per year in interest), over €100,000 in overdrafts and credit card balances, and over €85,000 in tax dues.
Though Delia downplayed concerns about his heavy debt load, the lingering doubts about his finances and his past associations with serious criminal networks proved too much to stomach for a significant cohort of the party’s grassroots.
As early as September 2017 – a mere few weeks after Delia was elected leader of the Nationalist Party – prominent columnist and former PN candidate Kevin Cassar published a letter explaining why he was turning in his membership card, pinning the blame squarely on Delia’s evasive responses to questions about his conduct.
“My doubts about Dr Delia, which he has not properly addressed, concern the matters about which the party’s Ethics Committee spoke, particularly his bank account in Jersey, the purpose of that account, the source of the money paid into it, and the ultimate destination of that money,” Cassar wrote at the time, referring to an offshore bank account which Caruana Galizia had linked with the Soho operation.
“I have serious concerns about his financial situation, the extent of his debts, and how – in his position as party leader – he can possibly settle those debts without becoming embroiled in other debts or obligations which may cause a conflict of interest. I have doubts and questions about how he intends to pay the Inland Revenue the many thousands of euros he has racked up in outstanding taxes and penalties. The fact that he has not paid the tax he owes raises doubts about his ethical standards and his suitability as leader of a political party,” Cassar added.
Besides the extremely serious criminal implications posed by Daphne’s story about the Soho brothel, Delia’s response to her investigation was downright repulsive.
One of the assertions he made when the story went public was that “she is doing this because she doesn’t want to let go of her dictatorial rule of the Nationalist Party,” going on to describe Caruana Galizia as a “biċċa blogger.”
Given that Daphne carefully timed the release of evidence to back up her claims for after Delia’s initial denial, he was then forced to change his version of events multiple times.
At first, Delia had denied that he had an offshore bank account in New Jersey, a claim he amended after Daphne published more details. This pattern escalated, to the point where Daphne was facing three libel suits from Delia by the time she was murdered in October 2017.
Adrian Delia speaking at a party event in 2019. Photo: Facebook
After sustaining two heavy electoral defeats and bitterly sparring with critics and dissidents alike, matters came to a head by July 2020 when dissenting MPs openly began calling for Delia’s removal.
By then, leaks from alleged murder mastermind Yorgen Fenech’s phone had exposed how Delia entertained the possibility of meeting with the man accused of ordering Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination after he was identified as the owner of the now infamous 17 Black.
Though he had just barely survived two successive no-confidence votes and the internal feud had long since spilled out into the open, Delia initially downplayed the severity of the situation by more or less describing the whole saga as spirited debate rather than an open rebellion.
By October 2020, after the party’s dissidents settled on Bernard Grech as the candidate who would oppose Adrian Delia, the former leader was ousted.
Adrian Delia’s reputational troubles didn’t stop after he was removed from the leader’s post.
Following the initial revelations about his communication with Fenech, Delia’s name yet again cropped up in connection to the alleged murder mastermind – this time, in reports about former PN media boss Pierre Portelli and his conversations with Fenech.
Both Portelli and Delia had strenuously denied any wrongdoing when faced with allegations that Portelli actively colluded with Fenech to leak stories. The alleged intent was to build up a narrative of a leader facing a coup and hopefully shoring up support against a perceived enemy. Portelli eventually admitted under oath that such exchanges of information between Fenech and himself had taken place.
In February 2021, newly-minted opposition leader Bernard Grech wavered in front of the cameras when he was asked whether he would launch an internal probe following further allegations that Portelli solicited Fenech for cash – on behalf of Delia – in exchange for derailing the career of Nationalist MEP veteran David Casa.
After a bitter public feud between Delia and former Nationalist MP and criminal lawyer Jason Azzopardi, the two eventually decided to sweep their differences under the rug through a joint declaration in which Azzopardi backtracked about the remarks he made, giving Delia a free pass to whitewash the story.
One can argue that most people would have given up on politics after reaching such a low point in their career. Considering that we are writing about yet another leadership bid, Adrian Delia is clearly not most people.
In September 2021, Delia finally found a righteous cause to sink his teeth into: the hospitals concession case.
Delia’s decision to put his name on the line with the aim of rescinding the hospitals concession would prove to be a political masterstroke and a genuine win for accountability and anti-corruption.
After years of complicated legal wrangling, the court of appeal’s confirmation of the rescission of the hospitals deal in October 2023 meant that Delia had successfully rebranded himself as a key contributor to the party’s meagre fortunes.
In spite of an obvious improvement in his standing within the party and in the eyes of the press, Delia clashed bitterly with the media on one other occasion during this “rehabilitation” phase.
Three years ago, Delia filed a libel suit against Lovin Malta’s former editor Julian Bonnici for writing an article which referred to WhatsApp conversations on Fenech’s phone in which Fenech allegedly boasted that Delia reached out to him during the 17 Black parliamentary debate.
Though one can argue that Delia was within his right to resort to legal remedies if he felt aggrieved by the contents of the article, the fact that Delia had personally conducted Bonnici’s cross-examination and turned it into a grilling left observers stunned when considering the fraught context for press freedom in Malta. Eventually, the story was retracted and amended, leading Delia to withdraw the libel case.
When considering that the next leader of the Nationalist Party must be someone with a clean track record, it is my view that Delia is not an adequate candidate in this regard.
Which brings us to the next category…
Breaking the mould
Though Adrian Delia certainly cannot be accused of forming part of the Nationalist Party’s old guard, the political ideology that he brings to the table is no different to theirs.
The second-time leadership hopeful has clearly pronounced himself on hot-button issues like abortion, often deploying the phrase “in favour of life from conception to its natural end” to broadly describe his stance.
While delving into the merits of an anti-choice stance on reproductive rights deserves a separate article, in this instance, it serves as a useful example to point out that Delia as leader would bring more of the Nationalist Party’s traditional brand of ideology – the same kind which the Maltese electorate has repeatedly rejected.
More generally, the fact is that Delia replacing Bernard Grech would basically amount to a middle-aged lawyer being replaced by another middle-aged lawyer who – yep, you guessed it – had replaced another middle-aged lawyer. The party’s entire leadership lineage since its inception looks exactly like what Adrian Delia is offering.
While there is nothing inherently wrong with fitting that description, the reality is that the Nationalist Party is desperate for a breath of fresh air, a different perspective from someone who is not cut from the same cloth as every single other person that assumed the role of leader before them.
While it cannot be entirely discounted that Delia may prove to be more amenable to compromise positions with the liberal wing of his party than I am presently giving him credit for, it would prove to be a very surprising paradigm shift from a politician who tends to express strongly worded stances, defending them vigorously whenever challenged about them.
When considering that the next leader of the Nationalist Party must be someone who can break the mould, it is my view that Delia is not an adequate candidate in this regard.
Star power
In spite of Delia’s dubious track record and his strong connection with the party’s unpopular conservative roots, the man himself maintains a lot of electoral heft and popularity among voters.
Emboldened by his solo crusade against the fraudulent hospitals concession and vindicated in the eyes of his critics, Delia’s ability to survive political turmoil and emerge stronger from it has now been clearly proven.
In the eyes of the Nationalist Party’s members – who will ultimately cast the deciding votes in this leadership race – Delia seems to have largely redeemed himself, seemingly securing the support of some of his worst former critics from within the party in the run up to the formal candidacy announcement.
As a communicator, one cannot deny that Delia can give the podium a run for its money whenever addressing a party event and that he generally knows how to effectively make use of other forms of communication like social media.
As per his own admission, Delia is no longer a newcomer to politics, but a seasoned combatant who has somehow survived and thrived amid one disastrous defeat after another for his party.
His reputational turnaround – along with the fact that he continued working hard to keep the party relevant – also grants him some legitimate bragging rights among the party’s rank and file, many of whom value years of service as proof of the individual’s loyalty to the party.
When considering that the next leader of the Nationalist Party must be an electoral heavyweight, it is my view that Adrian Delia is an adequate candidate in this regard.
Eloquence, creativity
As outlined above, Delia’s skills as a communicator are reflective of an individual who possesses the kind of mental sharpness that is required for the job at hand.
However, his past conduct raises questions about his judgement as well as his ability to find innovative solutions when under pressure, resorting instead to the poor form of filing libel suits and persecuting his critics.
In this particular context, creativity is generally reflected in what kind of resolutions one manages to come up with amid the inevitable turmoil of a political party which will always have different ideologies vying for supremacy.
This quality will also be absolutely necessary within the context of dealing with the Labour Party’s relentless propaganda machine. Any leader that cannot handle constant character assassination and convincingly rebuff any aspersions with quick-witted, decisive responses will crumble within days.
In that respect, Delia has certainly had no small measure of exposure to this kind of pressure, and has generally shown that he can respond in kind to a political adversary who operates in bad faith.
However, his combative approach and his tendency to resort to scorched earth tactics – especially visible in the gaggle of diehard supporters who regularly storm any comments sections which happen to be critical of their idol – do not augur well for internal cohesion.
When considering that the next leader of the Nationalist Party must be eloquent and creative, it is my view that there is much room for improvement in this regard but that the candidate possesses enough positive attributes to scrape a pass mark.
All in against corruption
Given the sorry state of Malta’s government, it is absolutely clear that the general public expects the Nationalist Party to put its money where its mouth is and credibly address nationwide levels of corruption.
It is also very obvious that a Nationalist government would not be able to do so unless it rebuilds its own internal structures from the ground up to become immune to the external influence of large donors.
While Adrian Delia’s crusade against the hospitals concession was certainly a landmark moment in the nation’s legal history, his broader track record over two decades does not inspire much confidence in the man’s commitment to a sweeping anti-corruption drive.
One major win does not make up for a lifetime’s reputation as an individual with dubious connections.
On the contrary, that track record paints a picture of an individual who enjoys a luxurious lifestyle that was, in multiple documented instances, far beyond his declared means.
In fact, doubts about Delia’s integrity during his first leadership race proved the need for additional due diligence to be baked into the process. It’ll be interesting to see whether the general public will be able to scrutinise the outcome of this process this time around.
When considering that the next leader of the Nationalist Party must be a credible figure in the fight against corruption, it is my view that Adrian Delia is not a fit candidate in this regard.
One might clarify that it was Jason Azzopardi’s idea to open the case as a private citizen, but accepted Delia’s wish to do it in his name. Also, it was Dr Azzopardi who did the labourious legal work, but has very rarely been recognised.
As far as I know, it was Edward Debono who pushed that case forward, not Jason Azzopardi.
I agree.
The cherry on the cake for me was when he called Daphne a ‘biċċa blogger’ showing a total lack of understanding and judgement of the value of her political investigations – especially, undoubtedly, when it concerned him.
Yes, I think this was the defining moment in which the Nationalist Party shot itself in the foot by burning bridges with Daphne’s family and, in a wider sense, with civil society. Adrian Delia was the beginning of the end of any pretensions within the PN that they would consider building a serious platform with external entities.
Adrian Delia’s baggage should make him a non-starter, but then again, this is Malta. I think the real issue facing the Nationalist Party is that the 3 persons who put their names forward to lead the opposition are three narcissists who are more concerned about self-aggrandisement than serving the nation..
The 3 candidates above are all populists and have no specific policies to bring forward other than what they believe to be popular. They are watered-down versions of the Labour politicians who, unlike the Nationalist party leader candidates, do not boast of the power of incumbency.
The average Maltese voter, let us all admit, is unsophisticated and still clings to the medieval concept of patronage. Patronage is only possible if a political party is in government. Hence, the party in government holds a huge advantage over the opposition. Why would a voter who needs some form of corrupt favour vote for an opposition candidate who can only help the voter if they are elected to government?
It’s a mess.
I agree – the fact that Alex Borg and Adrian Delia are even in this race is a damning indictment of the state of affairs.
As for your point about patronage, there is a definitely a majority of the Maltese electorate (i.e.: the major parties’ hardcore voters) which subsists on the patronage system and would gladly watch the country burn before giving up that system. However, your question points towards the PN’s problem: it fails to see that, from the opposition seat, your proposals and your behaviour need to be a superior offering to what the government can do at present. Trying to beat Labour at its own game isn’t going to work in a system that, as you rightly pointed out, effectively amounts to ‘winner-takes-all.’
You bring up a good point – “from the opposition seat, your proposals and your behaviour need to be a superior offering to what the government can do at present”. Over the past 12 years, Labour has steadily faced one corruption scandal after another. Initially, the Labour Party attempted to cover up its corruption. Over the past few years, the Labour government has grown arrogant and has blatantly displayed its corrupt practices openly.
One would think that it would have been easy for the Nationalist Party to make inroads with voters over the past decade, given the amount of ammo the Labour government has given them. Instead of doing their job as the Opposition party, and calling out Labour on their conduct over the past 12 years, it has often decided to “be positive” and remain silent.
Because the Nationalist party is unable to put together a cohesive, well-thought-out strategy for the country, and explain to the electorate how it intends to achieve this strategy, what are voters left with? The choice is between a deeply authoritarian, populist, and corrupt government and an opposition that has spent the past decade walking around like a headless chicken trying to find itself.
I truly believe that none of the current politcial parties in Malta truly deserve my vote.
I think that Cassola’s Momentum seems to be the only party that might offer some hope, though I have lots of personal reservations about Cassola himself. I’ve known him for years and do not like how he operated during his time with ADPD. Having said that, the thousands of votes he obtained during the MEP elections are nothing to be sneezed at. If they can get enough candidates to mount a decent showing and at least elect a handful of them to Parliament, that would already be a huge shift.
All things considered, I agree with the assessment that nobody at this stage truly deserves anyone’s vote – let alone the vote of a discerning elector. It is also equally true, however, that the Labour Party desperately needs to be booted out of power. Even a dead PN and a nascent Momentum are a better option than this.
‘Speech is silver, silence is gold’.
Malta cannot carry on trying to adopt a policy of ‘traqqa’ l’pannu bil- qara hamra’.
It is about time to separate the wheat from the chaff’, till the land from the base, burn the dead and dried roots, and seek new land with fertile soil for dedicated farmers.
I don’t like any of the PN leadership candidates, and whoever becomes leader will still not win the next elections.