The Nationalist Party general council is spending this weekend in retreat in Gozo, where it will take its bearings, after its latest mauling at the hands of the electorate.
For any political party, an electoral setback is a wake-up call. For the Nationalist Party, the reverse as the latest round of local elections amounted to a debacle. Hence the inquest now taking place in the seclusion of San Lawrenz, in the sister island.
The electoral defeat had more than one disturbing feature for the PN. It was decisively beaten in a number of constituencies, where it had previously enjoyed a consistent cumulative majority. The Labour Party did not only win an absolute majority, but it won three constituencies from the PN (Pieta, Msida and San Gwann), and now holds a majority in more constituencies than the Nationalist Party. Most telling of all, the Labour Party has now won all four electoral consultations held in these islands since the 2003 general election.
Each local council election offers access to the polls to a third of the electorate. These elections measure the electoral mood far more accurately and comprehensively than any other public opinion poll.
Obstinate reality
No amount of spin and no abundance of sound bites can erase the obstinate reality emerging from the latest poll; namely that Labour is riding on the wave of an absolute 53.9 per cent majority, with the PN claiming 42.9 per cent of the vote.
The PN leaders will have a lot to answer for this weekend – not only to pacify irate, dispirited councillors, but, more so, to reverse the tide of ebbing confidence in the country at large.
Unrest among the party faithful has been spilling into the open. A few days ago, former Finance Minister John Dalli boldly ventured his opinion (The Sunday Times, 19 March) that “underlying currents” are disenchanting the electorate. He highlighted the “feeling of despondency in the country” and asked bluntly whether the PN organisation is “up to it”, and whether the PN has depleted its resources to the point where the deficiencies are now becoming critical.
He was even more direct and confrontational when he asked whether “the purge that took place has shaken the efficiency of the party and rendered it inefficient” and “how is this going to be corrected”.
University lecturer Roderick Pace was equally outspoken in the PN weekly (Il-Mument) that same morning. He affirmed that the recent electoral defeat was a heavy blow (il-majnata ta’ nhar is-Sibt li ghadda kienet wahda goffa). He did not mince his words.
He emphasised that the mechanisms set up to regulate the market are not working, possibly because they were badly designed or because the regulators are incompetent. During the past two years, Maltese families had to contend with rising prices of food, medicines and water and electricity costs. Many others were asked to pay income tax arrears in short order, in spite of the fact that the department took as much as 10 years or more, to claim payments due to it.
Roderick Pace was succinct in his assessment: “It is useless trying to do in two years what hasn’t been done in a 100 years”.
Public confidence
Bickering over the past may soothe enduring pains – but it will not open the way forward.
The PN leadership’s main problem is winning public confidence in the here and now, and in the future.
The electorate is yearning for a sea-change. Dr Gonzi has been tried, over and over again, and found wanting. Electors are yearning for a change of policies and a change of faces.
The leading article in TMIS (Sunday, 19 March) reflected this sentiment in forthright terms.
It held that the country is asking for a change of policies “that do not ride roughshod over people, and that do not squeeze people out of their very last cent”. It added that the country is “asking for a change of attitude over the past weeks, and especially last week. Dr Gonzi has taken an attitude based on the arrogance of the righteous” which is tantamount to saying “my policies are right, it is you who were not understanding them, my policies are right but they have not delivered yet”.
Some of these policies have gone against the grain of public sentiment. Thousands of middle and low-income families, PN and MLP supporters alike, have been set back as a result. The newspaper has raised the added factual argument, namely, “there is a constituency, made up mostly of PN supporters, who repeatedly see their basic aspirations trampled on by their own party”.
Ambivalent game
It has to be conceded that the PN leader, Dr Gonzi, is a hostage of his predecessor whose spending policies, driven by a ‘money-no-problem’ philosophy, produced a structural deficit and burdened the government with unprecedented debt. Dr Gonzi failed to take the bull by the horns when he took over.
He retained the same tired team of ministers. He did not lead by example. He opted for the ambivalent game which seeks to boost morale, by promising an “early spring” and by assuring public opinion that Malta is moving in “the right direction”, while the predatory tax-man and the heartless bureaucrat do their dirty work.
Over and over again, the electoral sheep have looked up and were not fed. Thousands strayed from Gonzi’s flock. Thousands of others have reacted more robustly at the voting places.
When the PN general council convenes in Gozo this morning, the councillors will have to come to terms, first with the performance of their ministers, and then with the mood of the outraged electorate.
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