Our honourable Prime Minister was right in saying that our EP election was not a vote of confidence in his government. It turns out however that the outcome was crystal clear; that it was, de facto, a vote of no confidence in his government. How else can the Prime Minister interpret this result? Is it not ironic that the party, which had asked the nation to vote against joining the EU, has gained four seats in the EP while the party in government, which persuaded slightly more than half the Maltese electorate to vote yes to join the EU, only managed to obtain two EU parliamentary seats? Was this because the Maltese electorate considered the PL candidates more capable as Maltese representatives in the EU rather than their counterparts in the PN, or was it a vote of no confidence in the present government?

Dr Lawrence Gonzi has blamed his own government for the PN’s crushing defeat in the recent EP elections and, while assuming responsibility as Prime Minister, he yet fails to acknowledge that in this capacity he should bear the brunt of the absolute majority of the electorate’s condemnation. Bearing in mind that his government was only elected just a few monthd ago by a very slim majority thanks to political gimmicks (promising to legislate in favour of the squatters at Little Armier, tax concessions or exceptions to others, abnormal number of employments pre-election period, and so on), as such actions were not clearly apparent to the public at the time of the general election, the Maltese nation has used this EP election to express its disgust and utter condemnation. In such circumstances, if he would not like to be considered as Prime Minister of the minority government, and would like to preserve his self-esteem as an honourable gentleman, then the only course of action open to him is for him to resign – the sooner, the better.

Raymond Sammut

MELLIEHA