It is extremely hard for me to put pen to paper on a day like this. As always these are my personal views and this is how I see the situation after a mind-blowing, devastating electoral defeat.

The first thing we need to do is to take a huge step back. This we must do as a party and as individuals. We must quietly read the message sent to us.

Of course there are several ways of reading the message.

First of all it is clearly stating that this Opposition is not wanted. This may hurt but if we are not wanted, our absence must be felt. Perhaps those who made this choice need to understand what it means when you do not have a vociferous group of people led by a courageous and relentless fighter.

We must stop putting forward proposals and ideas because we are not in government. We need to do our parliamentary work but we must stop our crusades.

In other words, we need to be missed.

This, however, does not mean that we are not present, that we do not observe or that we do not act. Far from it. Only our presence will guarantee our democracy. We owe it to the voters who chose us to represent them.

So what happened here?

Four years ago, faced with a devastating defeat, the PN refurbished the party and made it look good. Simon Busuttil picked up the pieces and put them all together. He managed what seemed unimaginable in the wake of the 2013 defeat.

He made it possible to be cool to be a Nationalist again. Mass meetings became electrifying experiences again. He went from a party leader to a truly inspiring national leader. He brought back hope to the party grassroots but, even more, to the country. He managed to mobilize the country and grew in stature with every day that went by.

Today, four years down the line, we are discovering that even that was not enough. A lot more work – some of it fundamental – is needed.

Is Simon to blame for this? Absolutely not. I don’t think he should be leaving his position but he seems determined to do so. I am privileged and honoured to have worked with him and I will cherish the past four years. However, in this given moment, in these circumstances, I honestly don’t see anybody replacing him. He has not finished what he started.

So who or what are we going to blame? Have our people lost the sense of what is good and what is right? Is this a moral result? Absolutely not.

My personal contact with the people when knocking on the doors, in the privacy of their home, gave me (and my fellow candidates) a clear indication that there was a swing back towards PN but we didn’t know if this swing was strong enough to sway the result. However, it is now obvious to me that while we were focusing on bringing back the voters we lost and the disgruntled Labour voters, we were not aware that there was an even bigger haemorrhage of silent PN voters who were moving towards PL forcefully.

At this stage, rushing to make the (undoubtedly needed) big changes in our party would be the greatest disaster of all. The dust needs to settle for us to see clearly. Without a proper understanding of the real causes of the defeat, it is far more difficult to make wise choices. It is not simply leadership qualities that we need to look for. It is the right qualities to address the specific challenges ahead.

On a personal level I thank all those who voted for me on the 8th and 12th district. While clearly elected on the 12th District, I am also in the running to be elected on the 8th district. I thank my family for their support and, not least, my close helpers and advisers.

In line with what I wrote here, this will be my last regular article for this paper. I therefore thank the team at The Malta Independent for giving me the opportunity to write this column for the last four years.

I too need my time of silence.