When Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami returned to Malta, after a fortnight's extended trip to Australia and New Zealand, he must have been struck by the strong currents bubbling up in the trauma triggered off by proceedings against the Chief Justice and another judge.
The story first broke when Dr Fenech Adami broadcast his bombshell on August 1. In quick succession, the judges were first investigated at Police headquarters and arraigned in Court.
Impeachment procedures were set in train. These procedures lapsed because the judges resigned. Meanwhile an Acting Chief Justice was appointed. No sooner than the law began to take its course that their lawyers claimed a breach of their right of fair trial. They called on the Magistrates' Court to refer their complaint to the Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction and to stay proceedings until such time as the Civil Court delivers a ruling on the matter.
Public opinion was stunned as the plot started to thicken. The Prime Minister and his deputy took off to the antipodes on August 9 and returned on August 23. A sea change had occurred in the meantime. It was a time to take new bearings.
A lot has already been said about the Prime Minister's role as head of Government and on his responsibility to weather the "unprecedented, serious institutional crisis in the administration of justice" (as so described by the Chamber of Advocates). The national debate on the issue has, in fact, assumed a broader character and the debate continues.
Dr Fenech Adami is, however, also a politician. He has a referendum and a general election looming. The economy is under stress and, starstruck as it is by the EU, his party cannot now afford to be indifferent to urgent local needs. Moreover, unruly elements within the Nationalist Party have been rocking the boat, mainly on the issue of succession to the party leadership. All of this calls for special concentration on the part of Dr Fenech Adami. As the ship's captain, it is he and he alone who must, if necessary, take new bearings in the contemporary, fast-changing circumstances.
For any part in this situation, this is a time for unity. Even more so, this is a time for clear thinking, And it is a time for looking reality in the face.
Granted that the system of proportional representation breeds inter-party rivalry, there has been ample evidence that other rivalries have been building up among competitors manoeuvring for advantage in the long race for future leadership of the party.
This rivarly has solidified, sapping the party's strength. Dr Fenech Adami has not taken resolute initiatives to dissemble public perceptions arising from this situation.
An early assessment is of the essence. This would amount to an evalutation of the party management, which must be up to the mark in terms of strategy and tactics for the imminent campaign.
But an electoral campaign does not involve merely a party political machine. It calls for the mobilisation of support across the length and breadth of the electorate and relies on the goodwill and sympathy of electors who are not party members.
In other words, although parties are needed to mobilise the electorate, it is the electorate that wields voting power, and it does so as it looks through the prism of its interests. Dr Fenech Adami has to reckon with rising electoral disenchantment provoked by rising taxation, higher living costs and economic stringency. Seasoned politicians with a modicum of common sense know that, in politics, there is no gratitude.
British electors had their own reasons and no qualms whatsoever to send Winston Churchill to the Opposition at the end of World War Two. It is no wonder that, having formed their opinion on the local political situation in 1996, the local electorate abruptly decided to swing the pendulum. The PN leader is aware that a repeat performance is possible and his bearings must take this into consideration.
Opinon makers and the media in general would, no doubt, concentrate their minds to identify what irks the electorate, why and which politicians fail to realise the concerns of the electorate and what is to be done in the circumstances.
Corruption, real or perceived, has cast a dark shadow over the Maltese political scene. This is, clearly and unmistakably, the most tangible single factor likely to influence the electorate on each side of the political divide.
Accusations and allegations of all sorts have illuminated our political skies and the pyrotechnics have made their impression on the electors who were stupefied by free pardons to drug criminals, the revelations between criminals and certain politicians stretching from the Seventies to the present time, the emergence of powerful business barons with political links and so on.
This is not to say that all the allegations and the charges were true. True or not, any official investigations made (if any) were not conducted with enough transparency and possibly without sufficient determination to dispel suspicions.
The need to adjust the nation's bearings in this area is vital because the "floating vote" is making its presence felt.
Floating voters are at once people who rely on their enlightened judgment and who find the middle ground of politics congenial to their comfortable existence. They will carry growing weight in the electoral equation.
Dr Fenech Adami may also be inclined to conclude that the latest election results have proved that young age is not necessarily a substitute for experience in his party ranks and that the free electorate is not so easily fooled by glossy propaganda literature and street parties when it comes to extend or withdraw its support. Politicians who formerly distinguished themselves by arrogance or high-handedness are a liability.
All of these political considerations are heaped on Dr Fenech Adami's plate. None of them can wait. Many of them call for new bearings by which to navigate. Dr Fenech Adami will rely on his instinct, on his better judgment, or on the opinion of his advisers.
It is the electorate that will pass judgement during the moment of truth.