Sometimes there are situations when it is impossible to reverse a sticky patch and the chances of overcoming the circumstances are bleak. A situation where you feel helpless and there is nothing else you can do. A state of affairs that makes it impossible to avoid the crude reality of facts and the consequential step is to feel defeated as there is no way out.

You feel checkmated! Game lost! No wonder that this is precisely the way most people in the PN are feeling now after 20 years in power. In power games like chess this situation is well defined and when the King is in a position that he cannot move either way it is checkmate and the game is over.

“A week is a long time in politics!” Definitely! Imagine then the ambiance after 20 years in power! Two decades dominated by almost the same politicians playing musical chairs with ministerial portfolios and promising so many and disappointing so much.

I guess that most of the faithful Nationalist Party voters especially at grassroots level are legitimately asking the question “but what’s going wrong?” They are at a loss! Confronted by a dual situation where on the one hand they are spellbound by a chorus of thrilling statements like; sound finances, SmartCity, one million worth of investment everyday and so on, on the other hand the unpopularity is clearly visible and felt.

Once the moods and trends are clear for all to see, the only option left is to frenetically try to minimize the effects of the haemorrhage. After the die is cast and has taken shape, it is difficult to alter and change it. Water is gushing in from all sides and the sailors are abandoning the vessel in their hundreds before it reaches the sea bed!

However, what really went wrong? The fact that the party has been in office for almost 20 years means it cannot deceive and blame the present ailments on its opponents any longer. Moreover, the frustration of most voters in various sectors has cemented into an anti-establishment feeling. Promising almost everything to everyone did not pay any dividends. Incompetence has become rampant and most of the people are fed up with the work-delivery of major projects with no end in sight!

The PN have become victims of their own spin! They have demonised Alfred Sant for so many years. We are now familiar with all their stories that have no effect whatsoever! There is nothing fresh or more “scoops” to splash on their dailies or weeklies; now all they are doing is just recycling and recycling obsolete material! Their pathetic approach clearly shows that they are out of missiles!

A convenient oversight is that within the short term of 22 months we learnt about the explosive structural deficit that has hindered the economic prosperity of this country since the early 1990s. Moreover, in just 22 months we realised so many initiatives namely; the Cottonera Project, Connections project, Waterfront, renovation and upgrading of Bugibba, completion of Zabbar Road, regeneration of the tourist industry and so many other initiatives. Above all, we had a government that respected the dignity of our public servant.

The truth regarding various issues is now prevailing. Our people, after all, can evaluate who was speaking the truth and various groups within our society now feel that they have been deluded and taken for a ride! Can you trust someone who has pulled the wool over your eyes again?

Their latest revelation is that Labour policies are shallower than shallow! Their interpretation subsequently implies that if our electorate democratically opts for our policies, eventually it means that they are all gullible as they cannot even distinguish between ‘our’ shallow and ‘their’ profound policies. Consequently, the agony is more painful. Ousted by silly, superficial, small-minded group of proletarians makes it more distressful. It is an even greater humiliation!!

More than confident that our electorate knows the difference between the hollow promises made by those who have now became

synonymous with these gimmicks and the sound commitment shown by the Labour Party. Our flagship is that we keep our promises and we deliver. Our councillors and mayors have already shown this at local level. The constant support of the local voters is confirmation of this. Credibility and truth are the components that contribut to the present great support we enjoy from all those entitled to vote. The whole party will be confirming this on the national level very soon in the coming weeks.

All electoral checkups so far have shown that there is a deficit problem for the party in government to solve. The eleventh hour panic attacks to identify the checklist and frenetically seek to accommodate those peeved will not remedy anything! In so doing, it will probably increase the minus in comparison with the few pluses gained. Checking out of a checkmate position is a mammoth task!!

Roderick Galdes is the MLP spokesman on the Environment and National Heritage