The famous 100 days are over. Joseph Muscat, as expected, is still smiling away and telling us that everything is fine with his ways and methods and everything he has achieved has been close to perfection.

And then he adds – which is also repeated by all his ministers and spokesmen – that everything that is wrong is due to the wicked, bad PN. If we, as a party with the obligation to keep the Government and all its ministers on their toes, point out anything that is wrong, we are called all sorts of things and are told we have not learnt our lesson. The lesson, I presume, is that we should be humbled by his victory and that, because of this historic victory, we should all bow our heads and say that everything he does is good and great.

Of course we have been humbled – all of us who were and are part of the PN are feeling the brunt of what the electors told us and how they admonished us. I doubt if any true Nazzjonalist can ever forget this lesson and all the exponents of the party, from Simon Busuttil, Mario Demarco and Beppe Fenech Adami down to all of us candidates, councillors or just supporters, have understood that the electors are kings and will dump you even if much of what you do is good.

Instead of telling us to change and learn our lesson and instead of saying we are xewwiexa (inciters) and lackeys of some foreign conspiracy, Joseph Muscat and his followers might do well to learn their own lesson in humility. Maybe they should try understanding that, if what they promised was too extravagant and wrong and just to win the last election at all costs, they should ask humbly to please be forgiven for over-stretching themselves and for threatening the actual fabric of what the PN has built in this last, eventful quarter of a century. We as the PN, have always accepted that we made mistakes but we did it all with no pre-determined design. We changed the country from a third-world backwater to a successful EU member. And that is what the Labour Party inherited – a great country which is the envy of many bigger, more resource-rich nations, all impressed by what we have achieved.

How we lost the election when, economically, all the experts told us how exceptionally well we were doing, is a good story for Labour to ingest too. Just as we lost, so they too can lose support and no amount of smiles and promises will get back the lost sheep. The Malta Today surveys before the election were quite close to the truth that was reflected in the election results. So the latest surveys about the feelings of the electors just 100 days after Labour’s victory are more than telling. After such a short time in office, the electors are usually still drunk with happiness and quite forgiving. Not in Malta’s case.

Labour has suffered badly already. To be honest – and being as objective as possible – I am not surprised as I have felt, seen and experienced this myself with people I meet regularly. Labour promised, Labour is smiling but Labour is hardly delivering, let alone shining. Even the smile, I predict, will be removed and the usual Labour excuses for hardship and belt-tightening – and worse – will be back to haunt and frighten us. It will blame the PN or, what is becoming worryingly apparent, the EU. The confusion in the transfers they have unleashed on the work-force, strange cabinet shuffling so soon after being elected and hardly anything of note being done to keep the economy oiled and geared for growth, are all leading many observers and the people in the street to seriously doubt if they should have chosen Joseph Muscat as the right man to head our country in these tough times.

In my meetings with people, three of them stand out in particular. About 10 days ago, they admitted to me that they had voted Labour but they were already not only regretting their switch but feeling embarrassed about it. They wish to remain anonymous but not without pledging money to the PN. This might just be an isolated incident for the moment, but for them to feel so angered so quickly after the election speaks a few long volumes. And their regret is reflected in the surveys and in the words and deeds of many I meet and talk to.

Labour over-stretched itself in the campaign, which had perfect marketing. Marketing is great and it helps you sell any product to people who want to taste the new and the untried as against the old and tested. But not even the best marketer or the broadest smile can make you believe in the product if it is new but full of problems and tastes strangely worse than the old, tired one you used to believe in.

Joseph Muscat now needs to dump his platform and marketing and deliver. Otherwise the electors might have a few surprises in store for him.