The Malta Labour Party will, today or tomorrow, elect its new leader. A first vote will be taken tonight and, if none of the five contenders for the post obtains 50 per cent plus one of the preferences from the 889 delegates eligible to vote, then a second vote will be taken tomorrow between the two who got the highest number of votes.
The process brings to an end three gruelling months for the party since it was defeated at the polls by the Nationalist Party in March. And it also heralds the beginning of a new post-Alfred Sant 16-year era for the MLP.
It is a crucial moment in the history of the party, coming as it is after two decades of disappointment except for a brief but tumultuous period in government between 1996 and 1998.
This is because the party must elect a leader who will not only bring about a much-needed renewal within the party structures, but also one who has the best chance of taking the party to a victory in the next election, some time in 2013. The party will not only be choosing a new leader, but also a potential new prime minister. And as such it must choose someone who will be capable of leading the country and continue to build on the success that has been achieved so far.
Surveys that have been held in the past weeks, including one by The Malta Independent on Sunday, show that while the people think that former deputy leader George Abela – the oldest of the five contenders – has the best credentials to lead the MLP to its first election win since 1996, they also believe that the delegates will choose current MEP Joseph Muscat – the youngest of the five – as the new leader.
We will soon know whether the people’s perceptions are correct, or whether the delegates will listen to what the people, through the surveys, are suggesting.
It is now up to the delegates to decide. They have already made an importance choice – by voting to restrict the election of the new leader to themselves only, rather than open it up to the 19,000 party members. And this week they have the big responsibility of selecting who will lead the party in the years to come.
The delegates must look beyond the faces and the words. They have listened to what all five contenders had to say – and in this respect, Dr Abela, Dr Muscat, Marie-Louis Coleiro Preca, Evarist Bartolo and Michael Falzon have left no stone unturned to try to influence the delegates in their favour.
They have also read the report that was commissioned by the MLP to analyse what led to the third successive election defeat. They have also followed what has been said on television and radio, and what has been written in the newspapers about the report.
The time has now come for the MLP to move forward. It is a decision that will shape the party’s future. This is because the selection of the new leader – and that of the two deputy leaders next week – will determine the course that the party will be taking between now and the next election.
Whatever happens tonight, or tomorrow, will be the “bidu gdid” (new beginning) that the MLP advocated for the country before the election, but which is now a valid slogan that the party must follow to the letter to reform itself for its own good and that of the country.
Malta needs a strong opposition party, one that not only keeps the government on its toes in everything that it does, but also offers convincing alternative options.
The delegates who will be voting must realise the extent of the responsibility that they have given themselves. The decision they will be making this week will be one they will carry with them for the next five years.