Abela’s magisterial battle to lump PN with the ‘extremists’

Robert Abela has set his eyes on a new political battle - associating the Nationalist Party with Repubblika and Jason Azzopardi. 

His aim is to appease the Labour Party’s core vote and appear tough with political opponents and government critics. 

His cause is a yet undisclosed reform of magisterial inquiries to protect ministers and government functionaries from judicial scrutiny. 

The collateral damage is the ordinary citizen’s right to request magisterial inquiries. 

Over the past few weeks Abela has tried to dictate the narrative by trying to depict rival Bernard Grech as a hostage of NGO Repubblika and former MP Jason Azzopardi. Abela has called the latter two “extremists” because of the indiscriminate way they have called for magisterial inquiries. 

The Prime Minister has characterised his reform as an act to stamp out abuse by these ‘extremists’. Little does it matter that the system in place today does have in-built safeguards, or that any decision to prosecute rests with the Attorney General, or that the PL in the past had vehemently opposed moves to stifle inquiries. 

It is the political gamble that Abela is banking on to shore up his stature within the PL, several Labour sources suggest. The Prime Minister also believes that taking on Azzopardi and Repubblika will win him sympathy among the wider electorate. 

Whether the gamble will work still has to be seen, especially when it was a magisterial inquiry that led to a former prime minister being charged with corruption in the Vitals deal. 

Nonetheless, the scenario has left PN strategists wondering how to navigate the situation. The party wants to appear tough in standing up for ordinary citizens without appearing as if it is being led by forces outside its control. 

The PN so far has had partial success in dictating the narrative. It came out strongly against Abela’s reform, even forcing a roll call vote in parliament on the First Reading, an unorthodox move by all counts. Its justice spokesperson Karol Aquilina has also pledged that a PN administration will reverse any changes the government decides to push through. But in doing so, the PN is treading a fine line. 

Party sources have told MaltaToday the PN remains wary of being associated with the actions of Repubblika and Azzopardi, who are not burdened with the expectation of being a government-in-waiting. “Bernard Grech has to be out there more; he has to be the one calling the shots within the PN; he has to show he is in charge of this battle from the Opposition benches,” the sources said. 

As the ‘magisterial battle’ unfolds, the initial skirmish will be to dictate the narrative as a sceptical electorate tries to understand why Abela appears miffed by judicial scrutiny; why Grech is calling this a restriction of citizen rights; why Azzopardi would request five magisterial inquiries on Christmas Eve, largely based on news reports; why the two main parties have swapped roles, 19 years after a similar fight. 

Welcome, to Season 1 of the Magisterial Battle!