TMIS Editorial - PL: an exodus of top officials

By: independent.com.mt

Aug 25 2024
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TMIS Editorial - PL: an exodus

The Labour Party is saying that the changes at the top of its hierarchy, bar that of its leader, are a sign of an organisation that is not afraid to refresh itself while still in government. The message the PL is trying to send is that this is a normal process of renewal. It wants to make us believe that there is nothing sinister in all these sudden departures.

But questions have to be asked as to why there has been this exodus of the main people behind Robert Abela.

This last week Ramona Attard and Marc Vella Bonnici became the latest to add their name to the list of party officials who have called it a day and will not be seeking re-election when the PL holds its general conference next month.

The president and international secretary of the party, respectively, have joined the likes of deputy leaders Chris Fearne and Daniel Micallef, who are both moving out at the same time together with a string of others who have resigned either from the party or from the Office of the Prime Minister. This includes PL CEO Randolph De Battista, who has already been replaced by Leonid McKay, because no election is required for such a position.

It is not a coincidence that all this is happening after the Labour Party saw its comfortable lead cut down by more than half in both the European Parliament and local council elections held in June. Labour won both elections, but it has been rattled by the sudden shift in the way voters think. The PL was looking forward to easy wins last June which would have paved the way for yet another resounding victory in 2027. But, after the results, this is no longer a foregone conclusion, and the Labour Party is realising that it could lose.

While Fearne's situation should be distinguished from the rest because it was the right thing to do, given that he is facing criminal charges related to the three hospitals' deal, the other resignations or decisions not to seek another term are much more difficult to explain. The fact that they came all together indicates that not all is well within the PL fold.

While, on the surface, Labour exponents speak of unity behind the leader and would publicly defend him to the hilt, deep down they know that Abela has committed too many mistakes which are costing the party dearly.

Labour's core support is still larger than that of the Nationalist Party, but the party needs the backing of the voters who change their allegiances according to the circumstances to be able to win elections. Since 2013, this group of people - which grows in number between one poll and another - has given Labour the reins of the country. But the June elections have indicated that there has been a sharp move away from Labour among this particular group of voters.

Apart from the fact that the long list of scandals that continue to regularly surface has affected the way people think about Labour, this shift is largely as a result of Abela's insecurity, u-turns and pre-electoral insistence, for example, that there is some kind of "establishment" that is working against the PL. Abela seems to have understood how silly he was acting as he has not mentioned the word "establishment" again since the election. His attacks on the judiciary have also stopped, possibly as a result of his understanding that his views did not help his cause.

But the insecurity and u-turns have continued, not least by the re-acceptance of Rosianne Cutajar to the PL's parliamentary group. Abela had said that he expected an apology from her before being considered for re-entry, but this apology never arrived and yet, one fine day and without anyone expecting it, the parliamentary group was faced by Abela's proposal to have her back. This move was welcomed by the grassroots, who are always ready to accept what their leader says and does, but it has not endeared Abela with the rest of the electorate which thinks before casting its vote.

Abela has not been helped by the fact that his predecessor and other former ministers are criminally charged in court in connection with the now-rescinded hospitals deal. But he did show insecurity in the way he handled the Edward Scicluna situation. Abela appeared sure that he would be able to push Scicluna out of the Central Bank, but in the end he had to accept a solution which, to the neutral eye, is another sign of the PM's weakness.

The process to elect PL top officials has started as applications are being accepted until today, while the election will be held in mid-September.

Labour is selling the exercise as a natural course in a political party's evolution.

But not everyone is buying it.