The vote taken in Parliament on Monday night allows the government to continue to limp through this term. Whether we will have to go through a similar circumstance next week or next month only time will tell. In eight months, the government has had to face three crucial votes of confidence in Parliament – it survived them all, but these instances expose how fragile our parliamentary system is in a one-seat majority system.

On Monday, Franco Debono voted with the government, five days after joining the Labour Party in censuring Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici to force his resignation. Some argue that Dr Debono did so only because he would like his motion on justice to see the light of day in the House. Whatever the case, his expression of confidence in the Lawrence Gonzi government gives the Prime Minister some breathing space and the Nationalist Party some more time to organise its troops.

The Opposition continues to insist that the government is still unstable, and that this uncertainty is causing harm to the country as a whole. What it fails to point out is that in spite of all the difficulties Dr Gonzi has had to face in the past four years, the economic results obtained were excellent.

Dr Gonzi said something of great significance last Sunday. It is better, he pointed out, for him to have to face the internal strife within his party than to have to worry about jobs being lost, rise in unemployment and young people with no prospects. Thankfully, he said, Malta has performed excellently in education, employment and health, when compared to what is taking place elsewhere.

In a way, it is true that the government is limping through this term in office because the one-seat majority has been put to the test quite often, but at the same time it is also true that Malta is an example to be followed in the way it has been able to overcome difficulties that led to other countries collapsing.

The crises that Dr Gonzi has had to tackle over the past years have only come about because of one of his MPs’ behaviour, and not because people are protesting about austerity measures that needed to be taken, as is happening in several countries across Europe.

The political battle is set to gather speed in the next weeks, with the Labour Party accusing the Nationalists of clinging to power while the PN replies by attacking the PL that it is thirsty for power but has no clue what to do after winning the election.