Post-elections analysis

The latest local council results amply demonstrate the parlous state in which all three political parties and the country find themselves. Needless to say, the Malta Labour Party will interpolate these results as if they were a vote of no confidence in the government of Lawrence Gonzi.

However, this is a victory only in as much as a third of the population shunned the Nationalist Party for a variety of good reasons, without wishing to jump from the frying pan into the fire of the MLP and Alfred Sant.

Reasons for relishing the tweaking of PN noses are many and various. Arrogance in the way the citizen is treated is chief among them. I wrote dozens of letters to The Times, complaining of an obsolete police form, which sent you to police HQ in Floriana or else. When you get there you are told that a traffic fine had to be settled at your local council. On going to the council you are told to wait until you hear from them.

This obsolete form is still being used after dozens of letters in the papers, e-mails to Austin Gatt, meeting with his erstwhile private secretary and an attempt to deal with this irritating form through the office of the Ombudsman were all in vain.

As for myself, this issue still rankles me, enough to relish the humiliation that the PN is going through. My perception of the PN is very much in line with that of the MLP, in that you are not going to make your voice heard unless you are an insider of Independence House. The MLP call it the "friends of friends" syndrome, I cannot argue with that.

The traffic warden operation is a classic example of disastrous PR which is costing the PN votes at the ballot boxes. Can they justify the fine a recent visitor to Malta received in his first hour of arriving here because he had the fog lamps on one murky evening?

Too many people are left fuming at the high handed way this overt tax collecting exercise is affecting their lives and the trite tribunals charged with dealing with these traffic cases do nothing whatsoever to enhance a sense of justice.

Promises are not kept. The Censu Galea brainwave of linking neighbouring villages by public transport never materialised. I still have to go to Mosta from Attard via Valletta. Parking provision has actually been reduced, while harassment by wardens multiplied. All this of course is just the tip of the iceberg that is now seriously threatening the PN.

Alternattiva Demokratika's performance also needs to come under scrutiny. The reply that AD is satisfied with the result, at a time when so much disenchantment afflicts both major parties, does nothing to convince its followers that AD is capable of charting a way out of its morass. A thorough review of its objectives and modus operandi must be undertaken ruthlessly, with candour and earnestness.

AD is made up of highly educated, capable individuals of impeccable moral fibre. It can, and should, be instrumental in heralding a new era of politics in our island. It should work towards bringing to an end the corrosive dividedness of present-day politics and define its raison d'être without the seemingly opportunistic theatricals we witnessed at Marsascala. That course of action was beneficial to the opposition of Dr Sant but it did nothing to enhance Harry Vassallo's AD's fortunes in subsequent elections.

There is still a lot to play for. The PN must take heed of the adage that once bitten twice shy. To the MLP, I just say there is still time for the PN to mend its obnoxious ways, so do not count your chickens before they hatch.