The last round of local council elections is behind us. The result is cast in concrete.

It reflects the will of the sovereign electorate whose prerogative is to vote by its own yardstick, and not by the yardstick of politicians, the media and opinion makers.

Coming as it does before the next general election, this was a straw vote.

The cold, unassailable figures emerging from the polling booths highlight the following:

* The Malta Labour Party won 53.2 per cent of the valid votes cast. The PN won 43.8 per cent. Alternattiva Demokratika took the rest. (2.1 per cent)

* There was a healthy 68 per cent average turnout in the 22 localities where the contest was held. This represents a 14 per cent drop compared with three years ago, but the 2004 elections were held in conjunction with the Euro-Parliamentary elections. The 68 per cent turnout was registered in the face of inclement weather conditions.

* The Labour Party enhanced its absolute majority while the PN share of the vote declined since 2004, when the MLP polled 50.2 of the vote and the PN secured 46.4 per cent.

* This time round, the MLP has wrested control of Mosta, Gzira and Xaghra from the PN. In the past electoral rounds, the MLP captured other PN battlements, namely Zebbug, Rabat, San Gwann, Msida, Pieta, Sta Venera and Mqabba.

Emerging reality

When the above figures are distilled, the emerging reality is as follows: Labour has won every electoral consultation since Dr Gonzi assumed the PN leadership. In the process, it has consistently increased its share of the vote, while the PN’s electoral hold weakened.

These are the cold indisputable facts. They will, no doubt, be differently interpreted at the political level. It is up to the electorate to savour and, in due course, to react to emerging developments.

Former PN Finance Minister John Dalli anticipated the electoral results with an incisive analysis. He took in his stride the PN electoral campaign, based as it was in very large measure, on claims that the economy was performing positively.

If the election results do not produce a favourable response, then they would suggest that there must be something wrong – very wrong in the people’s perception of the government and of our party, he said.

John Dalli surmised that a negative electoral result would indicate that the party managers are making the wrong assessments of the electorate and its moods. It would prove that there is something wrong in the way party managers are communicating with the people, and in the way party resources have been deployed over the past few years.

There is method as well as substance in John Dalli’s approach.

Disenchantment

While the PN has been working hard to create a “feel-good” climate, there has been widespread disenchantment across the electoral spectrum. This has been highlighted by public protests on the part of residents in Sliema and Marsascala, by environment groups, by hunters and trappers, and by the broad mass of citizens groaning under the weight of sustained taxation. In one way or another, all of this comes into the John Dalli equation.

To this one must add the poor performance by “tired” elements in the administration, the procrastination on a number of reforms, including the port reform, the outrageous decisions which have become MEPA’s standard operating procedure, and the not infrequent instances involving abuse of ministerial or bureaucratic power.

All of this cast a long, dark shadow on the Maltese electoral scene. The overriding consideration is that since Dr Fenech Adami made way for the Gonzi succession, the PN has lost each and every election, with the MLP increasing its majority in the last three successive turns.

It is up to the average reader to decide whether this could be attributed to a natural electoral desire for change, after nearly 20 years of PN rule, or to a growing impression, spreading among PN supporters, that Dr Gonzi is proving to be a serial loser with the political “kiss of death”.

The overall, developing picture suggests that the electorate is becoming more discerning and is conscious of its autonomous prerogative. It is fast learning to measure past performance by politicians and to match past performance with past promises.

The evidence that leaps out of the official results of recent elections seems to indicate that the electorate favours politicians who are capable of delivering

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