Sunday saw the Labour Party’s General Conference come to a close, and with it the closure of one chapter for the party and the opening of another.

Ever since the party lost the huge vote majority that it has held for the past decade in the European elections last June, it has been a summer of cleaning house for Robert Abela.

Deputy Leader Daniel Micallef announced soon after the election result emerged that he would be stepping down, while fellow Deputy Leader Chris Fearne felt somewhat constrained to do so, especially after a court ruled that there was enough evidence against him for criminal proceedings in relation to the Vitals hospital deal to continue.

Others followed suit:  Ramona Attard said she would step down as PL President, Randolph De Battista departed the post of PL CEO to be replaced by Leonid McKay, Aleander Balzan departed from policy consultant to Abela and even long-time communications coordinator Ronald Vassallo stepped down.

The message for many was clear: Abela was seeking a renewal within the party in response to its surprisingly disappointing showing during last June’s election.

Exactly how that renewal was to pan out was something of a bone of contention initially.  Ian Borg quite quickly emerged as a leading candidate for the post of Deputy Leader for Parliamentary Affairs to replace Fearne, but the role of Deputy Leader for Party Affairs, to replace Micallef, was subject of a bit more speculation and discussion.

Statutorily, the latter role had to be taken up by somebody who was not a member of the PL’s parliamentary group – but when Jason Micallef, a man known to be very close to Abela’s predecessor, threw his hat into the ring it set off some alarm bells within the party’s internal corridors.

Abela ended up meeting Micallef and soon after the former ONE TV Executive Chairman announced that he would not contest the role – and almost at exactly the same time, the PL’s lead MEP Alex Agius Saliba announced that he would contest.  That required a change to the PL’s statute in order to actually allow him to do so.

Micallef was instead promised a post within the party as a ‘special delegate on the implementation of the electoral manifesto’ – despite the government having a Minister in Cabinet to ensure exactly this (Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi).  The horse trading that was deployed was quite plain to see, as Abela sought a changeover which was bereft of any controversy and potential division.

Abela’s hopes for an orderly and uneventful renewal were somewhat dashed though after former Msida mayor Alex Sciberras announced that he would contest for the role of PL President against Norma Saliba.

Saliba, the former head of the national broadcaster, was widely seen as the candidate who had Abela’s backing while it was speculated that Sciberras had the backing of a faction of the Labour Party which felt a lot closer to Joseph Muscat than it did to Abela.

In the end, the PL delegates did as they’ve done a fair few times in the past and went against their leader’s preferred choice, with Sciberras being elected by a mere 14 votes in what was an almost even split.

What relevance might this have for intra-PL relations going forward? Trying to draw a conclusion would be speculation right now, but it’s an interesting sign that while this renewal was brought about because the PL wants to heed the electorate’s message – Robert Abela may have a message to heed from within his own party as well.

Either way, with the slate wiped clean, as Abela himself said on Sunday, this is a “new chapter” for the PL.