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After an intense three-week leadership battle which saw Lawrence Gonzi, John Dalli and Louis Galea going back to basics, meeting the Nationalist Party’s grassroots, 28 February came and went and the man long tipped to take over Eddie Fenech Adami’s mantle scooped up just under 60 per cent of the general conference’s support virtually sealing victory on day one of the contest.
Day two of the contest was a mere formality as rival candidate John Dalli opted to drop out of the race. Gonzi clinched final victory with well over 90 per cent of councillors giving him the nod.
It was all smiles for Gonzi, his family, PN Secretary General Joe Saliba and other high profile party functionaries that overtly or covertly supported Gonzi’s bid, seeing in the man a continuation of the Christian-democrat Fenech Adami’s legacy.
The man from Valletta, a nephew of Archbishop Gonzi, elected to Parliament from the second district and whose rise to the top can only be described as meteoric was not identifiable with the PN’s ‘fight’ for democracy in the eighties. Unlike his leadership rivals, Gonzi was not on the frontline in the turbulent eighties which anointed Fenech Adami as a national leader giving him an aura of respect that transcended party allegiance.
Nevertheless, with his characteristic smile and warm nature, Gonzi captured the imagination of the PN’s grassroots. More so, in him PN councillors saw the image of a clean politician who was ready to listen and whose political programme was not a radical break from the past.
It was a game of high stakes. Gonzi’s campaign team made it a point to emphasise that a new leader had to abide by the PN’s 2003 electoral programme. The move was a direct dig at rival John Dalli whose high profile campaign was complete with a personal manifesto in the form of a booklet outlining the former finance minister’s vision.
Party councillors were also bombarded by anonymous letters that spoke of past scandals raised by the Labour Party in which Dalli’s name featured prominently. The move, an attempt to condition the grass roots in accepting Gonzi as a politician without scandals linked to his name, intensified on the eve of the general conference vote.
But it was John Dalli’s battle cry – decisiveness – that turned out to be the single most important issue and which still resonates today, 10 months down the line.
Even if he failed to clinch the leadership Dalli managed to condition Gonzi’s discourse into one that constantly reflects what could be easily described as the Prime Minister’s insecurity over his ability to take hard decisions.
In the ensuing months after the leadership race, Gonzi tried his best to shed the image of someone incapable of taking hard decisions. In every controversial issue that cropped up, be it the smoking ban or the introduction of an eco-tax, Gonzi’s words were constantly peppered with references to his ability to take decisions that mattered.
Gonzi has turned out to be a Prime Minister constantly desiring to prove to others that he can be a strong leader. It is this streak that probably led him to assume the explosive finance ministry portfolio, personally negotiate the ‘new’ Mater Dei contract and sit on various inter-ministerial committees.
Elected by PN councillors with the pledge of wanting to do politics differently, it still has to be seen whether Gonzi will live up to that promise.
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