Marlene Farrugia’s reply to the media about whether she would consider the PN leadership or not has taken the media by storm at this particular moment when the PN is experiencing the worst time in its political history. I strongly believe that she is the only way forward for the Nationalist Party.

I am one of those who have repeatedly written about matters as they truly were, particularly with regard to the policies being adopted by the Nationalist Party which were doomed to failure. I already predicted this when I was involved in the compilation of the report that analyzed the 2013 defeat. The part about the ideology the Party should follow was chucked aside because the Party Administration had already made up its mind as to which path it was going to take. Even if my analysis was scientifically based and was a qualitative in nature, there were those who remained in denial.  I can also recall frankly telling Ann Fenech then that the loss could have been worse. Anyhow, though I continued to base my thoughts on facts and analysis, I was still blacklisted and cast aside by the Party.

Be that as it may, it was I who suggested to Marlene Farrugia to join the PN in a coalition. This was the only way the PN could address the haemorrhage of votes that was envisaged in the coming election. Marlene came back to me and told me that “ġejt fi kliemek’. Today, the Labour Party is admitting that without Marlene’s input, the difference in votes between the two Parties would have been of around 40 000 votes. It is thanks to Marlene that on the 5^th district the PN elected a second candidate and I am sure that without her presence on the 10^th, the PN risked losing this district to Labour. When one is defeated, one has first to go back to one’s grassroots and not run about like a headless chicken.  My humble opinion is that the way forward now is for Marlene Farrugia to lead the rank and file of the Party. She is the one capable of thinking outside the box.

After such a devastating defeat, the time for daydreaming is over and I disagree completely with those PN lawyers who want to delay electing the leader. Simon Busuttil’s declaration that this will be known come September is unacceptable. This is suicidal. It is crucial that the PN reconstitutes itself soonest, otherwise it faces total dissolution. The Party must wake up to reality and start acting in a responsible fashion. The defeat was not greater in 2013 because there was still the figure of Lawrence Gonzi. Nowadays, Gonzi’s ideals have long been shoved aside, and Labour has succeeded to widen the divide to an extent never seen before. To put it plainly, the Nationalist Party’s situation is dire.

So why is Marlene the ideal person to be the next leader of the Nationalist Party? First of all, Marlene does not form part of that political class that was configured in the 1980s. But that period is now history and those politicians who still wallow in those memories must realize that they cannot live in the past. Marlene Farrugia has been most humiliated for having stood up for the Nationalist Party. The words of the Carnival song, as she and her partner walked up the counting hall, will surely continue to haunt her. The memory of this mortifying episode has the strength to change a future electoral result. One thing is certain; her election to the Maltese Parliament is a fissure in Labour’s victory.

The Labour Party’s agents did not have the chance to knock with all their might on the Perspex separation screen and holler “out, out”. The Nationalist voters of the 10^th district were generous with Marlene.  She will remain ever grateful for this and she will be representing them in Parliament. If the Nationalist delegates and members are prepared to elect her as leader of the Nationalist Party, she will work hard, and with humility and firmness will rebuild the dignity the once good name of this Party. She is the only person who can open the Party to inclusion. Thus, the arrogance that has been plaguing the Nationalist Party will cease once and for all.

It could be said that Marlene is not ‘us’. She is leader of another Party. Correct.  However, I wish to remind readers that the present day Nationalist Party is built on a historical merger which happened in 1926, between the Panzavecchiani who formed the largest party and the small party of Enrico Mizzi. The party of Ignazio Panzavecchia was known as the Unione Politica Maltese. Today, we look back on Enrico Mizzi with respect and we consider him to have been a fit leader of this party. Nonetheless, without this merger Mizzi would have never been the leader of the Nationalist Party. In the elections of 1924, he was the sole member of his party to make it to parliament.

Marlene Farrugia is capable of handling the challenges that the Party has to face. This means that the coalition of Marlene’s Party will end and the two parties will merge into one, becoming part and parcel of the Nationalist Party. After all, Marlene was elected on the Nationalist ticket. This is a clear way for delegates and councillors of the Party  to give an answer to Muscat, and show that not only is the coalition not one of Kaos, but  one of fusion, which will soldier on in its bid to build a new Malta. I am absolutely convinced that Farrugia is capable of building up the Party again without it losing its identity.

Today, the Nationalist Party is reaping the fruits it has sown. It is now up to the Party whether to heed my analysis and suggestions based on facts this second time round or not. Unfortunately, the danger is that the Party is clearly gravitating to new depths, and, in the near future, it might spiral down to represent only between 10% and 20% of the electorate. Marlene Farrugia is capable of changing the course the Party is on, and she certainly has the potential to get the party into government in five years.