The Guardian once quoted Henry Kissinger as saying that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. The blatant and desperate attempt on the part of the Prime Minister and his disintegrating party to hold on to power at all costs, though, has nothing to do with making love. Faced with internal strife all round, they are merely putting up the barriers to keep those inside the house divided inside, and those outside it, well, outside.

Thus, the formation of a so-called coalition between the ruling party and one of its elected members can only be interpreted as hilarious. Monty Python, the British surreal comedy group whose influence on modern humour has been compared to the Beatles’ enduring impact on world music, would have found it difficult to come up with a better sketch.

Joseph Muscat was quick to note the hilarity, let alone the seriousness, of the new political situation that emerged after Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s decision to resign from the Nationalist Party and its parliamentary group. His quip that we now have two prime ministers running the nation could hardly be ignored, for it is based on a reality that is being borne and witnessed by everyone in Malta and Gozo, give or take a few square metres in the outer precincts of Pieta’.

Now the political stalemate affecting life in general, and business directly, on these islands, has also become fun. There is so much we can enjoy with two prime ministers having to decide on matters that still have to be discussed and approved in the House of Representatives, if or when it is reconvened. Perhaps we can have Co-Prime Minister Pullicino Orlando responsible for the North, including of course Gozo and Comino, and Prime Minister Gonzi for the South, where he resides.

The truth of the matter is that Gonzi, as the real prime minister, has now put himself in a position where he cannot make a single move, pass a single law or speak a single word on behalf of a majority within Parliament, unless he has the blessing of, guess who, Pullicino Orlando, the temporary co-prime minister. Hopefully, Gonzi’s experience with the much-maligned competition “Be Prime Minister for a Day” will come in handy in the circumstances. If this is not a confounding and difficult situation inside the country’s highest institution, I don’t what is.

If it does not set the President of the Republic thinking about what the next episode of the PN soap opera could bring, and the Speaker of the House scratching his head in disbelief, then we must be living a nightmare from which we still have to wake up.

I do appreciate their insistence of basing their reactions on what actually occurs, if it occurs, inside Parliament. They are caught in a constitutional stranglehold that can only be released if they choose, albeit with some trepidation, to ignore custom and prudence on behalf of a nation that has truly had enough of the incredible antics of a small group of arrogant politicians trying to prolong their stay in power by sacrificing even the most basic of democratic principles by means of obvious delaying tactics, false assumptions and crude methods.

You cannot begrudge Pullicino Orlando his co-premiership. He has played his cards well, respected his many voters of four years ago, and gained a temporary foothold into power. While he was ignored in the past, he now has to be consulted. While he was overlooked, he now cannot be taken for granted. While he felt dictated to by the hidden, unelected forces within his ex-party, he now dictates to that same party purporting to have a majority in the House. From a political pauper, veritably, to a prince.

It is difficult to accept that Lawrence Gonzi, the real prime minister, does not see the writing on the wall. It is even more difficult to think he does not see the humiliation of it all (rhyming unintended). One would be daft to think that he is only doing this by way of winning some time for a couple of grandiose projects to be completed, or almost completed but with enough time for a commemorative stone to be laid and a red-and-white ribbon to be cut. The motivation is one, and it rekindles a feeling of dejà vu: salvaging long-lost and threatened votes through the power of incumbency, a highly successful gambit back in 2008.

Such conclusions and such analysis of the current political situation would have easily been taken for routine objections from an Opposition rightly intent on getting itself into power, had not every single newspaper and every news outlet worth its salt on this island called for an early general election to solve the political stalemate. But this is also what the vast majority of people are saying while they hesitantly look forward to watching the Punch & Judy show that will inevitably involve the two prime ministers who now have to decide what should and what should not become the law of the land.

But then, with the Monty Python troupe already erecting the huge billboard bases, there may yet be another scenario being prepared for all those eager to join in an inevitable crescendo of national guffaws. Maybe, the real prime minister will call an early election, after all. That way, having crowned Pullicino Orlando as co-prime minister would have been but a ruse meant to show he still has some grey matter, if not teeth.

Whichever way it goes, sooner or later, it is going to be fun. Two prime ministers, but only one Leader of the Opposition, unless of course either Franco Debono or Jesmond Mugliett want to opt for another bizarre kind of coalition while the going is this good...