What had started out with a glimmer of hope that the Nationalist Party would be able to regroup itself into a formidable Opposition once Parliament reconvenes in early October is quickly deteriorating into a complete and utter shambles.

The situation is such a mess that the party’s administrative council will be meeting tomorrow to work out how, exactly, it is to act now that it is faced with the growing scandal surrounding one of the contest’s two frontrunners, Adrian Delia. This could very well be a case of too little too late, especially considering the fact that the first ballots, those of the early voters, in the PN leadership election were already cast yesterday.

And although this situation has gone from brewing to simmering to boiling over in the last two-odd weeks, it was only after a request from a PN local councillor that the party’s administrative council has decided to try and determine how it should respond to the situation by consulting its statute.

We will not delve into the merits of the accusations being made, there is already plenty of that being done, but what we will delve into is the fallout from all of this.

The question is whether the Nationalist Party will be able to regroup itself after what has been an abysmally bitter party leadership campaign. And at the rate at which things are going, the party is looking at a good 20 years on the Opposition benches.

That is unless the party’s administrative council takes some difficult decisions when it convenes tomorrow.

The race, as a whole, has been tainted from the get-go, and all four candidates have their own baggage. What is in the most glaring spotlight at the moment is Delia’s past clientele now coming back to haunt him in a big way. But Frank Portelli has the matter of his private hospital hanging over his head. Alex Perici Calascione carries the Corinthia Group baggage, through marriage, and its partnership with Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company which has had hundreds of millions of Gaddafi money frozen at a Maltese bank. And Chris Said has been censored by the Auditor General for ‘unwarranted intervention’ when it came to the financing of local councils.

There could, for all we know, be other skeletons in those four closets that are yet to jump out and scare the living daylights out of the party faithful. But as matters stand, none of them has taken on the dimensions of the accusations that Delia is currently facing.

And in the meantime, while the Opposition falls further and further into a state of disarray that it will find exceedingly difficult to extricate itself from, members of government are undoubtedly breaking out the proverbial popcorn and are sitting back enjoying the show. They are regaling in the sight of the Opposition tearing itself to shreds in the wake of the trouncing Labour delivered to the Opposition at last June’s electoral polls.

The Opposition needs to be reminded that this is not a case of the winner merely taking the spoils; the Opposition has a crucial constitutional role to fulfil. After all, having a strong opposition is one of main underpinnings of having a strong democracy. Not only is a strong Opposition able to challenge the government and keep it in check, but it also collaborates with the government and provides essential input on the drafting of new laws and policies.

But as matters stand, the contest has very little to do with the national interest, nor the party’s interest – it is simply a winner-takes-all scenario that is completely unbecoming of the party.

Malta’s summer carnival started last night, but the political carnival that is the PN leadership election has been ongoing for some time is now reaching a fever pitch, just seven days before the first round of voting for King Carnival is held.

If this is the state of the party at the moment, it is difficult to imagine how it will be able to pick up the pieces and present a united front once the dust has settled.