I wonder why Lawrence Gonzi is “insisting” with the party executive on a hotly contested deputy leader election. Surely, having complained of not having enough cabinet material in his parliamentary group, the party leadership will be hobbled with a weak general and a weaker deputy.

I guess he has to call for a multi-candidate race – his was a farce, him having been the only contestant. But perhaps the potential candidates see a thorny situation – maybe they do not want to be deputy leader of a party that is being so cavalier with the spirit of democracy, if not with its rules.

Or maybe, having been spoken of to a former US ambassador as not being good enough, they do not want to be deputy to such as Dr Gonzi.

I wonder what the government leaders Dr Gonzi meets in Brussels tell him, if they discuss politics: do they admire him for getting away with making such a mockery of parliamentary democracy? Or do they chide him for making the EU family look not so democratic after all? How does he explain being able to govern with a minority? Does he feel the slightest uncomfortable at shaming his country’s name?

Maybe that is why he in no way stood up for his commissioner against Mr Barroso – maybe Dr Gonzi felt he could not accuse Mr Barroso of acting like a tyrant, only to have that charge thrown back at him.

In the 1980s, Eddie Fenech Adami used to decry every move, no matter how minimal, by the Mintoff and KMB governments, labelling each step as a whittling away of democracy. He did it so often it was like crying wolf, and he ended demeaning the situation.

What’s wrong with him today? Does he have a sore throat? He is usually so voluble – won’t he tell us what he thinks of the present situation?

Roger Mifsud

Rabat