History has a strange way of repeating itself - particularly when it comes to politics.

The situation in the Għargħur local council that developed this week is one such instance as it is a repetition of what had taken place in Mtarfa 22 years ago - with the roles reversed.

In November 2003, it was the Labour Party which had cried foul when a motion of no confidence deposed the Mtarfa mayor of the time. The PL had obtained the majority of votes in the locality, earning three seats against the Nationalist Party's two.

But John Camilleri, who was deputy mayor after being elected on the PL ticket, moved a motion of no confidence in mayor Josephine Abela, and this was supported by the two PN councillors, effectively deposing Abela. Camilleri, who had then been barred by the PL, became mayor with a PN councillor as deputy.

In that election, held just eight months before in March, the PL had won 54% of the votes of the Mtarfa residents, but ended up with a minority of seats.

At the time, then PL leader Alfred Sant had said that the will of the majority of the residents of Mtarfa had been betrayed. "When one rides roughshod over democracy," Sant was quoted as saying at the time, "people have a right to express their scorn".

Fast forward to 2025, and it is now the Nationalist Party which is saying that democracy is not being respected after what took place in Għargħur.

The PN, last June, obtained 62% of the votes and elected three councillors to Labour's two.

Deputy Mayor Francesca Attard however resigned from the PN last month and has since turned the tables on her former party, backing a motion to remove the PN mayor Helen Gauci and replace her with PL councillor Mariah Meli.

The Nationalist Party reacted by accusing the Labour Party of taking over the Għargħur council against the will of the people.

"The blatant attack on democracy (is) driven purely by political motives and orchestrated by the Labour Party," the PN said, and will now also be organising a protest on Wednesday.

The two scenarios are near-enough identical - the only big difference is on who the aggrieved party is.  It is a situation which shows the standard of opportunism in local politics.

In 2003, the PL cried foul when it was the victim and the PN had no issue benefiting itself from the situation; now in 2025, the PN is crying foul because it is the victim, while the PL has had no issue in benefiting from the situation.

The opportunity for power - in both cases - was too difficult to turn down.  Talk about respecting democracy is cheap; actions to follow through are another matter entirely.

Is the situation itself correct?  Għargħur residents may be right to feel aggrieved, just as Mtarfa residents would have been right to feel aggrieved 22 years ago - but at the same time, one can also argue that what happened was in fact in line with electoral law.

An elected official has every right to express themselves as they deem fit, and an elected official turning their backs on their party to their own detriment is not something new in politics.

Franco Debono famously voted with the Labour Party to bring down the PN government before time in 2012; and there was the even more infamous moment when Dom Mintoff voted against Alfred Sant's PL government in 1998, resulting in its collapse.  It was the second time Mintoff had actually brought down a PL government: he brought down Paul Boffa's administration in 1950 as well.

Another famous instance in 1962 when Gozitan MP Coronato Attard - elected for the Partit Demokratiku Nazzjonalista (a PN breakaway party) - crossed the floor to the PN right after that year's election, thereby allowing the party to govern with a one-seat majority.

Even in Parliament, whenever the PN does not like a bill which is proposed, it appeals to PL MPs to vote against party lines - even if that would, in theory, be voting contrary to the assumed wishes of those who elected them.

So, there is more than meets the eye to this local council debacle: is the situation fair on the voters? You could definitely argue that it's not. But is it against the law or anything that's never happened before? No, it's not either.