It was a foregone conclusion. Simon Busuttil was on Wednesday night elected PN leader, taking 93% of votes cast. He was the sole runner, after Mario de Marco bowed out of the race in the first round.

Dr Busuttil’s tally was 1 percentage point less than what Dr Lawrence Gonzi had totaled in 2004, with 94 % of valid votes cast. Could it be considered an omen? That is all subjective. Simon Busuttil largely continued with the rallying call he had used in the run-up to the vote – that of re-inventing the party and once again, making it one that “belongs to the people”.

Dr Busutill has his work cut out for him. Aside from recouping the 36,000-odd votes that it lost in the last election, the new PN leader must first sort out a leadership structure. Once that is in place, he must urgently tackle the cash-flow problems that the party is facing. It is not an easy task. Aside from dealing with the disgruntlement caused by limited payment of salaries, Dr Busutill must find a way to rally the party’s troops, for it to become a strong and credible opposition.

But from his speech on Wednesday night, one thing remains clear. The PN is having a very hard time in resigning itself to the fact that Dr Gonzi has stepped aside. He has already hinted that he will be resigning his parliamentary seat to allow the new leadership to work unhindered. Watching the scenes unfold at the PN General Headquarters on Wednesday night, it is understandable. As reported in today’s issue, he is still keeping his cards close to his chest and will only announce his intentions once the deputy leadership and party posts are filled. However, the tone of voice seems to indicate that he will step aside. The PN councillors and officials were almost dumbstruck when Dr Busuttil made his speech, they didn’t know what to do with themselves. They had just heard the speech by their outgoing leader and hero – Lawrence Gonzi. He was given rapturous applause, and was a hard act to follow.

In fact, when Dr Busuttil took the podium and worked up to the climax of his speech, those who were listening were not exactly enthused. We believe that this is not because the quality or the delivery of the speech was questionable, but because they literally did not know what hit them. Before their new leader, the old fiery and rousing orator Lawrence Gonzi got the blood pumping through their veins. But after, they were given a speech by the softly spoken and reasoned Dr Busutill. The styles are totally different and it was evident that they could still not let go of Dr Gonzi.

But in a gesture to pass on the baton, Dr Gonzi then walked over to Dr Busuttil and raised his hand into the air with a fist pump. That was the moment when Dr Busuttil was accepted and that was the moment that the councilors burst into long and loud applause. In doing so, the party said goodbye to Dr Gonzi and welcomed Simon Busuttil. Now, it’s time for him to act to unite the party and lift it out of the sorry state it finds itself in today.