Nationalist propagandists - including Cabinet Ministers - have been arguing that the outcome of the recent local elections is to be considered a blessing in disguise since, apart from giving disillusioned Nationalists the opportunity to let off steam, the party will have enough time to make them fall in line again by the time of the general election.

One cannot surely get more patronising than that, particularly since the Nationalists have been promising to keep their ears to the ground every time they lost a round of local elections, only to prove to be stubborn and unrepentant, as has been confirmed by the escalation of their arrogant approach towards the electorate in past months.

The sincerest reaction I came across from the Nationalist side appeared in Il-Mument, the PN's Sunday newspaper, when a regular anonymous correspondent recently had the cheek to remark that there have been so many conflicting interpretations of the result of this year's local elections that he was sure that within a few days everything would be forgotten.

Recently I was digging up some past quotes of the Nationalist Party on the SmartCity project when it was launched last year, and they were then busy promising that they would get it approved by Parliament by June 2006.

Ironically, on March 18, 2006, when Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi appeared on Xarabank - just days after having suffered another defeat in the local elections - apart from boasting that SmartCity would be alive and kicking within months, when quizzed on his party's defeat was reported to have said that "the PN's defeat had sent a strong message which the party must heed".

However, judging by the PN's recent behaviour it seems that this was one more promise gone down the drain!

Even though PN secretary-general Joe Saliba stated last Sunday that apart from targeting PN voters who did not vote in the local elections they will also be focusing on Labourites who also chose not to vote, the PN must realise that in the general election they will need to target the electorate at large - rather than a random sampling of it in one third of the island.

From the contacts I have established in the localities I contest I can easily say that the people are yearning for a change, even if admittedly a number are still undecided whether to abstain or vote Labour.

I often come across diehard Nationalists who declare openly that they do not intend to vote PN while others boldly admit that although they were staunch Nationalists they simply do not intend to vote in the next general election.

What intrigued me most was a recent house call on a staunch but disillusioned Nationalist family in Msida who told me that they cannot see why the PN government intends to use the Mater Dei Hospital as a launching pad for its electoral campaign.

They argued quite convincingly and without any political prejudice that if there is one reason why one should not vote PN it is precisely because of the Mater Dei project, simply because it represents lengthy delays and lack of professionalism in execution, cost over-runs apart from the whiff of alleged corruption linked to certain contracts tied to the project.

Coming from diehard Nationalists, this came as a genuine surprise to me, because people normally focus on bread and butter issues such as utility bills, the rising cost of living in spite of official statistics indicating the contrary, the cost of medicines, the short supply of medicines in government outlets, the way the PN tried to con the electorate on the hunting issue, the environmental decay that has resulted from government policies, as well as the growing housing problem, particularly in terms of affordability - not only for low-class families but even for the offspring of middle and upper middle class families.

While Alfred Sant's first reaction to the local election results was well balanced, Dr Gonzi was simply pathetic, digging up every excuse to try and inject some life into a decaying 'political' body, even at the expense of straining credibility further.

To lose support in particular areas as a result of mismanagement by certain local councils is understandable - under any administration - but for such a trend to persist year after year, irrespective of the localities concerned, shows a nationwide trend that continues to gain momentum as the general election draws near.

Labour has not only continued to win one set of local elections after another but the gap between the two parties has continued to widen.

An independent columnist recently argued that in order to regain lost ground the Nationalists must ensure that they can win back the vote of at least 65 per cent of all those who have abstained over the years - no mean feat.

The recent local elections show that the feel-good factor that many were expecting the Budget to generate simply did not materialise, despite all the media hype and the echoed sentiments of some constituted bodies.

The Nationalists' biggest handicap is not only their lacklustre performance but also the fact that they have been in power for too long, at the same time proving to be out of sync with the aspirations of the ordinary man in the street.

No wonder ex minister John Dalli continues to argue repeatedly that the PN leadership is detached from its supporters. If they are detached from their followers, one would dread to imagine how detached they have grown from Joe Citizen, who is affiliated to no political party, who does not attend any party activities or does not frequent any political clubs or circles.

The PN has missed one important chance of turning the tide.

This was when they commissioned an independent study on their dismal performance in the European Parliament election of 2004. Despite the report's alarming conclusions, its findings evidently fell on deaf ears. Beyond that stage we have merely experienced a sense of déjà vu year after year.

The argument that many Nationalists did not vote because of the bad weather contrasts sharply with the way they used to turn out in their thousands even during the most inclement weather to protest against a Labour government in the Eighties.

Equally fallacious was the argument that Labour supporters are far more regimented. One moment they attack us for being indisciplined and without leadership. The next they hint that we are governed by an almost Communist-style sense of regimentation!

Lawyer Toni Abela recently made an interesting remark in another Sunday newspaper. He argued that if one had to assess the strength of the 'public' response to party fundraisers Labour never stood a chance to win against the Nationalists because their contributions raised were always chunkier and far more substantial than those raised by Labour. No wonder I never allowed myself to be impressed by the amount of money pouring into the Nationalists' kitty. It is not true that Labour is "understandably euphoric". Most of the people I have met have been very rational in their assessment.

During his press conference Dr Gonzi was betrayed by the body language of the newly elected councillors surrounding him. They looked like a bunch of people who were caught sleeping at the wheel and are just trying to take stock of the damage done and why.

Although there is a tendency for political parties in Malta to hang on till the end in the hope of a last-minute change of fortune, in spite of the consensus that exists on the introduction of the euro, one cannot exclude that the Nationalists could suffer even more if the predicted inflationary impact of the euro's introduction materialises, as is likely in an undisciplined Mediterranean country like ours. See what happened in Spain, Italy and Greece and you have a fair indication of what is likely to happen here.

The more Dr Gonzi boasts about the health of the economy and the prosperity we are all living through the more damage he is doing to his party's credibility, because this merely adds insult to injury to all those who feel downtrodden and left in the lurch. This jaded approach offends most the sentiments of discerning middle class voters who tend to judge things by the rise or fall of their quality of life and similar material standards.

While Nationalist sources of mine have informed me that the demonisation campaign against Dr Sant is likely to intensify to get people's minds off the dismal state of affairs of our daily living, I have my serious doubts how effective this can be in turning out the Nationalist vote. In reality it could even prove counter-productive.

Even though Francis Zammit Dimech has proved to be the easy target for many, I suspect that this is a roundabout way of avoiding putting the blame at Dr Gonzi's door, particularly since he chairs the inter-ministerial committee on tourism.

Where I agree with a recent statement made by a high official of a leading constituted body is that although the country has experienced crises in various sectors over the years, this is the first time that most of the crises faced by this administration have been self-inflicted.

That in itself is reason enough why we should have a change in administration - at all costs, for the benefit of the country... and in the national interest.

leo.brincat@gov.mt