PN’s circular firing squad - Martin Scicluna

For the health of Maltese democracy, it is imperative, after months of mourning and heart-searching in some parts of Malta following the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, for the government’s (loyal) official Opposition to make its voice heard. But this can only be achieved if the Nationalist Party gets its act together.

There is a crucial need for disaffected Nationalists opposing the new PN leadership to concentrate on rallying to their beleaguered leader of the Opposition, Adrian Delia, to help give him credibility, rather than undermining him, in his key role of holding the government to account.

Nationalists seem determined to make life harder for themselves than they need to. Having so disastrously misread the public mood at the last election, is the PN now hurtling towards defeat at the next? At present, they seem addicted to fighting like ferrets in a sack, except even ferrets know when it is sensible to call a truce.

Their inability to accept the decision by the majority of PN members that Delia is the new leader conveys the impression of a party never happier than when at each other’s throats. The anger directed at Delia by the rebels is both mystifying and misplaced.