The Malta Labour Party has lost the general election for the third time in a row, and yet judging by the way it continues to behave, some have not yet learnt the lesson.

The party must still be feeling in disarray after, once again, ending up on the loser’s end. It had been building up a frenzy among its supporters that, this time, it was going to win. Its victories in the local council elections since 2004, coupled with the European Parliament election win, helped to increase the MLP’s conviction that it was time for change. The circumstances that led to the election – a party in government for nearly two full decades, among other things – also led one to think that it was Labour’s turn.

But there was one factor that was not taken into account by the MLP – that it was still being led by Alfred Sant, who failed to hold on to his government when elected in 1996 and was still, by and large, thought to be against Malta’s European Union membership in spite of saying otherwise.

Added to this, while the MLP continuously accused the Nationalists of being arrogant in the way they bulldozed over their opponents, and sometimes against their own people too, the MLP did not realise that it was being arrogant in opposition too. And, if a party is already arrogant although in opposition for nearly two full decades, what will happen when it is elected to government? This is a question that many people asked themselves; many, but apparently this did not come to the attention of the people at Hamrun.

Now that the dust has settled – and the Nationalist Party is once again in government – top officials from the MLP continue to express a kind of behaviour that is not conducive to a party that wants to learn from its past mistakes and is ready to start a new chapter.

Take the way MLP secretary general Jason Micallef tackled the questions and comments that were raised during last Friday’s edition of television programme Xarabank. It is understandable that it was not an easy evening for him. But, what is not understandable is the way he dismissed what was being levelled at him by people who have the Malta Labour Party at heart, the people he should be representing.

Rather than accept that mistakes had been committed, and that the MLP had lost an election which any other party in opposition would have won – the MLP will go down in history as having been the first party to lose three elections in a row and the first European opposition party to lose an election after the introduction of the euro – Mr Micallef chose to dismiss all the valid points that were being raised as to what led to Labour’s defeat, in an “I-know-best” manner that must have shocked even the most hardened Labourites watching the show.

Such an attitude is harmful to Labour. And unless things change – a concept widely used by the MLP during the campaign, and one which they have to adopt now – it will be hard for the MLP to win the 2013 election.

Ironically, sitting next to Mr Micallef was the PN’s secretary-general Joe Saliba, who announced he will relinquish his post. Mr Saliba is doing so after a victory, and yet, when asked whether he will resign, Mr Micallef spoke about a party mechanism that needs to be followed after the resignation of the party leader, saying that it is the role of a secretary-general to organise a general conference to elect a new leader.

This is understood. But, after the conference, what will Mr Micallef do? Will he resign too?

The Labour Party has a lot to learn from the election defeat. It must understand that it has to portray itself as a better alternative to the party in government, and that it is not enough to base a campaign on the faults of the others. It must convince the people that it is a alternative that is better than the existing one.

In 2008, it was unable to do so. What will happen in 2013 is anyone’s guess, but Labour will stand a better chance if it embraces all those who can contribute towards such a victory, and do away with those who have contributed to its latest defeat.