Robert Abela suffered a rare public challenge to his attempted domination of the party. Alex Sciberras, known for his close proximity to Joseph Muscat, defeated Robert Abela's chosen candidate Norma Saliba for the post of president of the Labour party (https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2024-09-14/local-news/Alex-Sciberras-beats-Norma-Saliba-by-14-votes-to-become-PL-President-6736264119). Sciberras won by a razor-thin margin - just 14 votes separated the two candidates - but it was enough to deliver a deserved slap in the face to an arrogant and detached leader who squandered Labour's commanding lead at the polls in just two short years (https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2024-06-10/local-news/Where-did-Labour-s-huge-vote-majority-go-6736261842).
Having conveniently rid himself of Chris Fearne (https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2024-07-24/local-news/Fearne-to-step-down-from-PL-deputy-leadership-post-6736262953), the only real threat to his leadership, Abela set about manipulating the internal elections for key party posts. There were plenty of posts up for grabs - two deputy leader positions, party vice president, party secretary. Abela ensured that there was no real contest. Alex Agius Saliba, Ian Borg, Louis Gatt and William Lewis ran uncontested for their respective posts. When Jason Micallef announced he would contest for deputy leader he was publicly humiliated by the prime-minister - "when your time is up don't come back" was Abela's blunt message (https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2024-08-03/local-news/When-your-time-is-up-don-t-come-back-Abela-tells-Jason-Micallef-6736263225). And Jason Micallef backed off (https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2024-08-06/local-news/Jason-Micallef-decides-not-to-contest-for-PL-Deputy-Leader-Agius-Saliba-teases-possible-candidacy-6736263283 ) leaving Alex Agius Saliba in a one-horse race.
Abela was spared the embarrassment of seeing party delegates elect Jason Micallef despite Abela's public opposition to Micallef's candidacy.
Just two party posts involved a proper election with more than one candidate - the international secretary post, a relatively insignificant position won by John Grech over Georvin Bugeja (https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/131208/labour_internal_elections_95_voter_turnout_amongst_party_delegates), and the substantial President post.
For PL president, Abela selected former TVM head of news and irregularly appointed Head of the National Centre for the Maltese Language Norma Saliba. She announced in August that Robert Abela invited her to contest for the role of PL President - "I decided to accept Robert Abela's invitation" she declared (https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2024-08-24/local-news/Norma-Saliba-Alex-Sciberras-to-contest-for-post-of-PL-president-6736263705). Saliba knew that having the personal endorsement of the leader practically guaranteed her the post. That's exactly why she was broadcasting the fact that "Robert wants me - not him". Him was Alex Sciberras, who had announced his intention to contest the Party President position just the day before.
To drum it in, Norma Saliba underhandedly announced it wasn't just the leader who wanted her. Even the two men guaranteed to become deputy leaders, because they were running uncontested, were on her side. "Both PL deputy leader contestants Ian Borg and Alex Agius Saliba are supporting my decision", she announced (https://timesofmalta.com/article/norma-saliba-run-labour-party-president.1097186).
The media reported strenuous efforts before the party conference to twist Sciberras' arm and force him to back off and let Norma Saliba run alone. But Sciberras stood his ground. He denied media reports about the horse-trading going on in the background. "Nobody in Labour discouraged me from running for party President", he told Times of Malta (https://timesofmalta.com/article/nobody-discouraged-running-labour-president-alex-sciberras.1098017). But he acknowledged that "some people within the party feared a contest might cause divisions".
Sciberras knew he was fighting an uphill battle. Norma had the leader and the two soon-to-be deputy leaders on her side. What chance did he stand? All the delegates and the entire country knew that Saliba was Abela's anointed candidate. Sciberras worked hard to dismiss "rumours" that he was Joseph Muscat's candidate and Saliba Abela's pick (https://theshiftnews.com/2024/08/28/pl-presidency-alex-vs-norma-is-joseph-vs-robert/). "I'm nobody's candidate...I only wave one flag....and I work really well with Abela," Sciberras commented.
"This is a race between friends. Norma and I are genuine friends and this is truly a race between two friends," he insisted, while pointing out that they "have different characters".
Sciberras knew he had to tread carefully. He didn't want to come across as being critical of his opponent who was the leader's choice. That would torpedo his own chances. Sciberras bizarrely even defended Saliba's job with PBS. PBS ethics guidelines (https://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2012-04-04/local-news/PBS-Publishes-new-guidelines-on-impartiality-308116) state that "all PBS staff should refrain from publicly associating themselves with a political party". Those same guidelines prevent employees from "endorsing political parties, participating in any campaign, or express support for a political party".
But Sciberras disingenuously argued "Is there anything wrong with a person with a public role also having a political view?" Sciberras understands that being party president is different from just having personal political views. When challenged by the Times of Malta journalist about this, Sciberras insisted that Saliba has a fundamental right to her political views and stupidly added "this applies even to judges and magistrates, as long as they perform their duties well and impartially". He'd shot himself in the foot. Judges and magistrates surely cannot be President of a political party while they're sitting in judgment. Maybe that's exactly the message Sciberras wanted to convey without stepping on delegates' toes - Saliba cannot be president and still be a PBS employee.
Alex Sciberras defied the odds. He beat Norma Saliba and is now Labour party president. The party delegates publicly defied their leader Robert Abela sending him a powerful message - you don't own the party and you will listen to us.
The good news is that Abela hasn't yet completely hijacked Labour. The bad news is Joseph Muscat still pulls the strings.
The good news is Abela didn't get his way. Thankfully the party hasn't elected another submissive stooge as Party president - and that benefits not just the party but the whole country.
Hopefully Sciberras will challenge and resist the Labour leader's worst excesses - his volatile rhetoric, his public attacks on the judiciary, his rampant abuse of direct orders, the shocking appointment of cronies to posts they're unfit for, the blatant favouritism at the Planning authority, the utter mess at Identita', the party's strategy of obscene clientelism, his appalling abuse of the DOI for partisan advantage, his failure to tackle the out-of-control construction magnates.
Sciberras knows that Labour's star is waning. He knows too that with a reckless indisciplined leader Labour is bound to keep haemorrhaging voters - and there's not many left to haemorrhage before the tide turns (https://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/metsola-makes-history-as-malta-labour-party-loses-supermajority/).
Sciberras Associates Advocates, the legal practice of Labour's new president proudly displays on its website (https://sciberrasassociates.com/news/right-of-reply-following-daphne-caruana-galizias-allegations-regarding-dr-alex-sciberras/) a quote from Gandhi: "In matters of conscience the law of the majority has no place". Let's hope Sciberras lives by those words of wisdom. Congratulations and good luck. He'll need it.