Nationalist line-up for 2014 European elections still needs some heavyweights

At first glance, the list of PN candidates contesting next year's European Parliament elections includes an ideal balance between youth and experience, women and men and seasoned politicians and newcomers.

This week, the PN announced the approval of eight candidates: incumbents David Casa and Roberta Metsola, entrepreneurs Helga Ellul and Jonathan Shaw, lawyers Stefano Mallia, Kevin Cutajar and Therese Commodini Cachia and PN youth section president Kevin Plumpton.

However, in the absence of Party Leader Simon Busuttil, who will not be contesting the elections after nine reasonably successful years in Brussels, the PN needs a heavyweight candidate to spearhead the nationwide campaign.

In the two previous European elections, the PN campaign was led single-handedly by Busuttil, who to this day holds the record for the highest number of votes ever garnered by a candidate in a single election.

In the first European Parliament election in 2004, Busuttil, then the rising star in Maltese politics, won 59,000 first count votes.

In the second election, held five years later, Busuttil once again spearheaded the PN's campaign, and despite the party's heavy loss, he increased his share by almost 10,000 votes.

Although Busuttil may have lost some of his lustre during the general election campaign, his showing in the European elections reflected his ability to reach out to all sectors of society, including Labour-leaning voters, and his relentless campaigning on the ground.

Following his election as PN leader, the party needs to identify a heavyweight politician who can thrust the party towards its declared objective of winning three out of the six available seats.

In the two previous elections, the PN only elected two candidates, Busuttil and David Casa, and the PN has openly set its sights on winning an unprecedented three seats.

Similarly, Labour will also enter the election bereft of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Ministers Louis Grech and Edward Scicluna, who have all represented Malta in the European Parliament.

However, although the Labour Party has not officially announced its list of candidates, the party is looking to present a strong list, with former Prime Minister Alfred Sant and former PN councillor and LGBT Consultative Council Chair Cyrus Engerer already having announced their candidatures.

Labour has recently issued a public call for MEP candidates, but a number of high-profile names have been touted as possible contestants.

These include One journalist Miriam Dalli, MP Joe Sammut, lawyer Ramona Frendo and incumbents Joe Cuschieri and Marlene Mizzi.

The two other current Labour MEPs, veteran John Attard Montaldo and Claudette Abela Baldacchino are unlikely to contest again.

Who is who?

MEP David Casa is the closest the PN have to a heavyweight, since he successfully contested two consecutive European elections. However his failure to get elected in the March general election indicates that the brightness of Casa's star is on the wane.

His colleague Roberta Metsola, who this year replaced Simon Busuttil following his election to the Maltese Parliament, boasts of a notable CV working in European institutions. Metsola, however, lacks the charisma and popularity needed to sweep the PN to victory.

The rest of the candidates, despite being successful professionals, lack the political experience needed to reach out to the swarms of voters who abandoned the party in the March general elections or at least create a sense of excitement within the wider PN electorate. Playmobil's former CEO, Helga Ellul, Chamber of Commerce Deputy President Stefano Mallia and entrepreneur Jonathan Shaw will be contesting an election for the very first time, while lawyers Theresa Comodini Cachia and Kevin Cutajar failed in their bid to win a seat in this year's general election.

Kevin Plumpton is also a newcomer, despite his experience in the party's youth movement and brief spell on the Zabbar local council.

More to come?

An internal commission chaired by former EU Commissioner Joe Borg screened the eight candidates before they were approved by the PN's administrative and executive councils.

The commission also includes former MPs Noel Buttigieg Scicluna and Louis Deguara, Salvu Sciberras, Isabelle Vella, Maria Cassar and PN Administrative Council President Karol Aquilina.

They were entrusted with three main tasks: establishing the criteria for the selection of candidates, advising the party on deselecting candidates and proposing candidates for the European, local and general elections.

Busuttil had stated that the party was aiming at having roughly the same number of candidates as it had in previous elections.

In the last two rounds of the European elections, the PN had 10 candidates, and although this will be used as a guideline for the commission, Busuttil pointed out that next year's election will see six members elected, not five, and this could influence the party's decision.

This leaves room for the party to field other candidates who could possibly fill the void left by Busuttil; however the options available seem to be very limited.

Former PN heavyweights such as Lawrence Gonzi, Dolores Cristina and Austin Gatt have all called it a day in politics.

Although the return of such heavyweights can never be excluded completely, the PN needs to either look at its current crop of MPs or at prominent members of civil society to boost its chances of winning a third seat.