For years, Eddie Fenech Adami was a successful leader who turned out to be a big personality. He dominated the Nationalist Party's organisation, policy development and electoral campaigns.

But did that control come with a price? After Eddie stepped down, the PN went through a period of leadership instability and electoral decline. He was undoubtedly a strong leader: his influence on the Nationalist Party was near-complete. He dominated the party organisation, party policy and electoral strategy. Under him, the party got its best-ever electoral results, and he broadened its base to make it attractive to workingclass support that had traditionally only voted Labour.

In effect, Eddie created a revamped PN that maintained power for more than two decades. The PN won a slim majority under his successor, Lawrence Gonzi, in the subsequent elections of 2004 and 2008. It might be thought that after his period of dominance, Eddie left his party in good shape.

In the two decades after Eddie left office, the party struggled with internal divisions and poor election results. It committed political suicide. This might have been an indirect result of his dominance. As a leader, he suppressed debate on issues that possibly divided the party, such as the relationship with the European Union, but those divisions remained and festered.

As a leader, he effectively removed any challengers, in part by outliving them. He promoted Lawrence Gonzi as his favoured successor, even though he might have been seen as weak and lacking charisma. When he succeeded him, GonziPN won an election that the Nationalists were widely expected to lose, but then he struggled to stop the divisions in the party from bringing down his Government.

When the 2013 election came, the PN was annihilated by New Labour. It went through three leaders in quick succession and lost two more elections with only hints of recovery. Roberta Metsola's PN leadership snub was definitely the last straw.

The damaging impact of Eddie as a strong leader on the PN happened through a variety of mechanisms in three phases: organisational, policy and electoral.

Indeed, thereafter, the PN never got down to conducting a meaningful weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis that would have given it a clear picture of what it did best and a golden opportunity to devise a successful strategy for the future.

Bernard Grech's successor will surely have the unenviable task of first going about such an analysis, unlocking the secrets to effective party leadership and driving the PN forward with confidence and vision.

Effective party leadership will be crucial for the PN's success if it is to achieve great things, from winning elections to shaping public policy.

A strong leadership team is the foundation of a successful party. To build such a team, the new PN leader will need to identify key roles and responsibilities within the party leadership structure, develop a diverse and inclusive leadership team, and foster a culture of collaboration and open communication.

The new leader has to be responsible for setting the overall direction and vision for the party, with the deputy leader or leaders supporting him and taking on specific responsibilities, such as policy development or communications.

A new leadership must ensure that the treasurer is responsible for managing the party's finances and ensuring its financial sustainability, while the secretary is competent and responsible enough for the party's administrative tasks, such as maintaining records and handling correspondence.

Once the new leader is in place, the PN must embark on a drive to recruit members from a range of backgrounds and with different skills and expertise, ensure that the leadership team is representative of the party's membership and the broader community, and foster a culture of inclusivity and respect within the leadership team.

Importantly, it will have to encourage members to take on leadership roles within the party, while recognising and rewarding members' contributions to the party.

However, while within the PN, there might be those aspiring to become ambitious political leaders, sadly, very few match up to the traits of good leadership. In fact, most appear to be severely lacking in some of the most essential qualities of a good leader, such as integrity and accountability.

It is perhaps only a handful that come near to the principles of leadership and show strong indicators of a potential successful political leader.

From that handful, one augurs that there will emerge a vital party leader who, if in government, will be capable of determining the allocation of power and money through Governmental policies, establishing partnerships with other stakeholders, and making decisions that can have a major effect on our nation's well-being and its citizens.

He will have to be a leader ready to focus on the country's longterm betterment, above and beyond any short-term personal gains, requiring a mixture of charm and honesty and the capacity to evaluate a circumstance and make a judgement based on what will be better for the majority.

Above all, there will be required statesmanship, as compared to just becoming a 'politician', which implies possessing the honesty and ability to stand up for what is fair, even though it means resigning a Government post or losing an election.

The incoming PN leader will obviously seek to present his policies, party and themselves in a positive light, something known as impression management.

This is where critical questioning and fact-checking by journalists and experts will have to play a vital role.