The dust has now long settled on the March elections and their immediate aftermath. The result was a very strong message by a portion of the electorate who felt that it was time for a change, and voted for that purpose.
The will of the people is sovereign and supreme, and as such, the message sent by this significant number of voters must be heeded and given its due weight. This is not to mean that we ignore the message of support given by the 130,000+ who voted PN in acknowledgement of the positive track record of our party in Government.
The way forward does require introspection, analysis and as well as reform where necessary. We cannot, however, just throw away all that has been done and achieved, taking the result of this election as meaning that the change needs to be absolute, throwing out everything and everybody. This would mean that we risk throwing out the baby with the bath water!
Yes, mistakes were made, but as is human nature, it is these mistakes which tend to stand out. News is never about the run of the mill benefits that we enjoy in our daily lives, and which we start taking for granted as from the second day we enjoy it. It is the flaws and shortcomings that we find remarkable, and it is these that we need to identify and root out if we want to regain the trust of those who felt that we did not deserve it this time round. While cosmetic changes are nowhere near being enough, we need to be wary of going to the other extreme. The Nationalist Party stands for a lot of things – democracy and education in mutual support of each other being perhaps our strongest pillars. We also have credit for the quantum leap that this country has undergone in the past 25 years. It is thanks to the policies of the Nationalist Party in Government that the Labour Party has seen its ranks enriched by young people coming from strong Labour Party families. These young people were able to follow tertiary and post-tertiary education as a result of the years of breaking down of barriers to education, making the 'education for all' slogan a reality for so many.
The Nationalist Party also enjoys values at its core. These values should not be discarded for short term political convenience, but should be re-visited with an open mind with a view to adapting to the relatively new circumstances of certain segments of our society, without selling out on other, more traditional, members. The key word is balance. In our approach to the rejuvenation of the Party, we must identify the breadth of the spectrum of our society, and make sure to take due consideration of all its components. We must be able to be the emitter of the white light that is, as we all know, made up of the full range of colours in the rainbow. We need to make sure that our policies take into account everybody's concerns, and chart our way forward holistically, making sure that not one single person feels that we have excluded him or her.
I chose to call this small contribution of mine 'looking forward' with a reason. This phrase can be interpreted in two ways. First of all, it is time for the Party to absorb the lessons learnt, and look ahead to move forward away from the recent electoral disappointment to a more successful future, starting with the upcoming MEP elections in 2014. Secondly, I am looking forward to being a part of these positive developments, both within the Party structures, and also as a newly elected parliamentarian in House of Representatives.
Dr Marthese Portelli MP is PN executive committee president
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