Next week the Malta Labour Party makes one of the most important decisions in its history. It will be electing a leader who, it hopes, will bring about the change that is required within a party that has lost three elections in a row, and that seeks pastures new as it starts preparing for the 2013

election.

Since it was defeated at the polls on 8 March, it has not been a good time for the MLP. And now that the date when it will start a new chapter looms

closer, it appears that the party must still battle with internal struggles that certainly do no good.

For one thing, to have four of the five candidates for the leadership post signing a common letter against the fifth because his candidature was endorsed by the chairman of the Party of European Socialists within the European Parliament already goes a long way to show that not all is well.

To have the party’s electoral commission banning the five candidates from taking part in tomorrow’s Xarabank programme is another decision that leaves so much to be desired. With all candidates taking part, individually, in many TV shows, the decision to stop them from taking part in the country’s most popular programme – even when the producers promised there would be no debate between them, but single interviews – is, to put it mildly, rather strange.

To also have one of the candidates, Michael Falzon, lashing out at the report that analysed the MLP’s election defeat, saying that it was “shameful” that there had been an attempt to put him in bad light and place most of the blame for the election loss on him, is another clear indication that not all is well within.

The report itself also speaks volumes of the lack of coordination and cooperation that existed within the party structures, even in the topmost places, as Dr Falzon himself said he was not privy to the polls that were being conducted on behalf of the party during the election campaign.

The disclosure of personal information to a newspaper about the delegates who will be voting next week to elect the leader is just the latest example of the many leaks that the MLP has been victim of in the past weeks.

These incidents do not help improve the image of a party that wants to be seen as moving away from a difficult time. They are certainly not a way through which the party becomes appealing to the voters who did not choose it last March. While all the five candidates vying to become leader have

spoken about the party’s need to attract the so-called floating voters, such incidents tend to push people away, not bring them closer.

The Malta Independent has already commented on the fact that the three-month gap in between the national election and the election of the new MLP leader may have been too long a time. Now that only one week remains, it is clear that a shorter period would have been more beneficial to the party. If that had happened, the new leader would have already been in place and set the ball rolling for a much-needed reform of the party.

But it’s useless crying over spilt milk, and the party should now look forward to start a new

chapter.

The delegates know that the decision they will be making on 5 June – or 6 June if the first voting does not establish a winner – is the most important one they will be making for the good of their own party, and the good of the country too.

They have another week in which to analyse what the five contenders are saying, and then make up their mind as to who of them is the best suited to lead the party and, most of all, who of them would stand the best chance of leading the MLP to an election victory in 2013.