That was the week, that was

A week, a former British Labour prime minister once observed, is a long time in politics. While many have been recalling the title of an early book about the Russian revolution, Ten Days That Shook the World, Harold Wilson was simply restating the obvious - many things may happen in a few days. That was again demonstrated here in the last 10 days. They have not revolutionised Malta's political scene. But shaken it, yes.

What came out of the ballot boxes that received the voters' choice in the EP and local councils elections may not have completely convulsed the ruling Nationalist Party out of its smugness. Surely, they have rattled the prime minister. The PN was quick to put its spin on the manner in which it failed to get a third candidate elected as an MEP.

It began by seeming to follow its leader. Lawrence Gonzi was dignified and realistic in defeat. For, though in the EP election it did not take the form of any strong swing to Labour, which would have been expected to win an absolute majority of the votes polled, the result did record a huge protest against the PN.

The party machine, however, soon began to spin out diversionary excuses, continuing to lambaste Alternattiva Demokratika, rather than introverting to identify its own crass failings, and crowing over Labour's inability to profit from the situation, instead of wearing sackcloth and ashes over its own ineptitude.

It was expected that, once the votes to elect a third of Malta and Gozo's local councils were also counted, the Nationalists would find they had been dealt a double whammy. In essence, so they were. This time the MLP did manage to pass the 50 per cent mark. It did so by a whisker, which could be trimmed once one takes into effect the three elected independent candidates, the inclusion of Albert Rizzo in the PN total at Gzira, and the Safi turnout.

But the result was good for Labour, even if it might have been better. Reacting to it the PN leader came across once more as someone who was ready to call a spade a spade. This time, he did so just about audibly, certainly not loudly, though, when he advised the MLP to analyse the local councils results properly, he did pointedly add that his side had to do that as well. The smugness did not slip off the PN general secretary at his side, who remained oblivious to the barb. Other faces at the table suggested more realistic introspection.

Publicly, however, the PN seems determined not to take into full account the fact that, not before time or without reason, its presumed right to win elections has cracked. They found quick solace in the way voters demonstrated their new willingness to change - not just in a week, but also in a few seconds, between casting their vote for MEPs, and that for local councillors. In the latter exercise, AD progressed on past performance, but far less so than the statement made by ruffled Nationalists in the EP counterpart.

In both cases, that certainly was quite a week. While the three parties continue to interpret the figures according to how they put them in the best or least-bad light, the reality is that there is not only the beginning of a mood swing, but a deeper one in the behaviour of voters. Expect the parties to respond with more spin and politicising, but they have a great deal of homework to go through away from the public glare.

The toughest homework is on the prime minister's table. After each result he declared, manfully, that the government would not be diverted from taking measures that, it felt, were required for the good of the country. The trouble is that, over the past five years in particular, not enough of those measures have been implemented, even where they have been correctly identified.

Dr Gonzi now faces the mounting pressures of the country's economic and social situation, and pressures that have already been strongly signalled from within his party to do 'what is right' (sic) by their supporters. More than anything else, perhaps, the outcome of the past 10 days has defined the tests that Lawrence Gonzi has to tackle to demonstrate that he is his party's leader, but above all, that he is his own man.

It is as such - and not as a partisan leader shoved by partisan forces - that he can hope to promote and implement policies for the good of the Maltese people, of whom Nationalists account for only half, give or take a few thousand.