Bernard Grech has been confirmed as the leader of the Nationalist Party by the party’s councillors, following a vote held on Saturday.

All in all, the votes showed that 81% of the 1,390 councillors who cast a valid vote have confidence in Grech as the party’s leader.  The remaining 19% - equivalent to 266 – said they do not have confidence in him as leader.  A further 12 votes were invalid, while another 162 councillors did not cast their vote.

The result can be considered to be a reasonably good one for Grech.  While it’s not the lofty heights of confidence that other leaders in the past have achieved, it is still far better than the 67% which Adrian Delia had received when he faced a vote of confidence.

The majority should give Grech the mandate to take the PN forward for the next five years and to draw out the road ahead for the long-stumbling party.

He will face a number of key decisions in the near future.  Chief amongst those are getting a handle on the PN’s ailing finances.  Grech used the PN’s €33 million mountain of debt as a tool for his campaign to retain confidence of the party’s councillors, saying that the party needs stability and, more so, needs to be frank with itself about the situation it is in.

In that sense, he is correct.  How Grech deals with the money situation at Dar Centrali could define his leadership and the future of a party as a whole as well.  He faces some difficult decisions.  This may range from selling some of the party’s clubs across towns and villages to even possibly shutting down the party’s media house, which has been a financial burden for a number of years.

The latter decision particularly could have significant consequences on the local media scene, not least as a constitutional case calling for the banning of political party television stations remains ongoing.  The argument allowing political parties to have their own television stations was always that they would balance each other out – but if one closes down, then what happens to the other one? 

Grech’s confidence majority should also give him the mandate to deal with any dissenting voices within the party and to carry out the revamp that may be necessary in order to rejuvenate the party into a viable Opposition and a force capable of challenging the government.

The PN leader’s first test is closer than one would think: Malta goes to the polls again in 2024, this time to elect new local councils and to elect six MEPs to represent the country in the European Parliament.

Grech’s time as party leader may hinge on whether the party makes any progress in either of these elections.  If the PN were to not make any headway by then – particularly at local council level – then it shows that it is incapable of even fostering much grassroots support.

Grech’s main excuse this year was that he had only been at the helm of the party for a little over a year, meaning that he had to work with what he had at the time.  With another two years to go until 2024 – that excuse wouldn’t hold any water if the PN were to fail once again in the MEP and local council elections.

It’s a long, tough road ahead for Bernard Grech – but he can take some consolation that he has the mandate to take the party forward onto it.