The Prime Minister and leader of the Nationalist Party, Lawrence Gonzi, insisted yesterday that defeat in the local elections did not mean people were unhappy with the government's policies.
During a press conference, Dr Gonzi linked the weakening of support for PN councillors - in a round considered favourable for the Nationalists - to the significantly lower voter turnout when compared to the same round three years ago.
"People trust the government, but need more concrete examples of how policies are affecting their lives," Dr Gonzi maintained.
Dwelling on statistics reflecting the electoral result, voter turnout and the number of votes which he said were lost by "all political parties", Dr Gonzi insisted that each individual result told the story of each and every locality and, as such, the election did not indicate a national trend.
While it was evident that the PN had suffered because of low turnouts in traditional strongholds such as Swieqi, Attard and Gharghur, it was difficult to pinpoint why people had not given their support to the PN, he said.
Asked by The Times whether national issues such as hunting had affected the election, Dr Gonzi said it was difficult to give a categorical answer, though it did not seem this matter had affected the result.
People who did not vote were definitely relaying a message which the party was taking note of, even though the reasons people came up with were various and further analysis was needed to understand what lay behind the result.
When quizzed on the fact that under his leadership the PN had lost four successive local elections and the European Parliament election in 2004, Dr Gonzi claimed that parties in government suffer in local elections and that the results would not be repeated in a general election: "We've been through this. I will win the general election next year".
In 1997, when the PN had won the round of local elections while Labour was in government, Dr Gonzi, then party secretary general, had said the result reflected a general need for a change of government.
"I had been proven right, because the Labour Party did not last much longer in government," Dr Gonzi said, insisting that the same would not hold for the current government because the PN would win the upcoming election.
The MLP had pursued an aggressive campaign and attacked individuals personally in those towns where it planned to overturn the PN majority. This was not surprising because that was the way Labour conducted its politics, he said.
Unlike the opposition, which was an armchair critic, the PN was in government and had to take difficult decisions.
The government would immediately get down to work and continue focusing on its political agenda that would translate itself into investment, jobs, tax cuts and other measures to improve the quality of life.
When asked, Dr Gonzi said the election would be held next year. But before that happens, Malta would undergo important changes such as the test, in June, of whether the country qualifies to adopt the euro next January.
These were important changes the government could not disrupt with an election, Dr Gonzi said, adding that the government's term had still a year and five months to run and that he would call an election "when the time is ripe".