The art of diplomacy

The cold, hard decision of the electorate was clear and simple. The Nationalist Party confirmed itself in government with the slimmest of margins - wafer thin is the phrase being bandied about in this respect. The Labour Party was not able to convince enough members of the electorate that they would be better served with a Labour government. The facts speak for themselves, as do the statistics.

What is worrying many of us within the MLP is, among other things, the stay-away electorate.

The MLP had much to offer and, yet, was refused once more even though the same electors did not show their full trust in the PN. During the run-up to the election, the question I was asked a number of times was why should Labour be in power. Of course, this question is the basis upon which the decision who to vote for is made. It is worth our while therefore to remember what the MLP was offering.

The MLP made it amply clear over the past few years that it had a vision for change. The change was not going to be brought about by the party alone but following consultations with professional bodies and individuals. This was made clear during the large number of meetings the MLP held with various members of our civil society and with individuals who had a view to offer. The reasoning behind all these meetings was to get feedback directly from the horse's mouth, so to say! This was done in order to ensure that the MLP's policies fell in line with what was expected by the electorate.

The MLP made it crystal clear that the environment was going to be at the centre of decision making. From the outset, we indicated that, with regard to the environment, it was no longer possible to take any more chances. We preached zero tolerance on corruption. Others paid lip-service. Malta's continued existence as a fully-fledged member of the European Union was also made crystal clear, although others portrayed this fact differently. The MLP indicated without any reserve that Malta will continue to partake in all that is the EU.

Failures there were. However, in essence, I believe that we did not portray the right image to the electorate. We did not sell ourselves to the electorate in the right manner and, in this sense, we seem to have lost the art of diplomacy, the art of convincing the electorate. There seems to have been an undercurrent of mistrust towards Labour that, rightly or wrongly, comes from years gone by and still holds sway. We thought that the electorate was convinced it was time to move on but, of course, we were wrong. It is our duty now to ensure that this does not happen again.

Most commentators have indicated that we within the MLP felt we had all the right answers but that the message did not get through. I do not concur.

The message did get through but not enough people accepted that, with us at the helm, things for them would be better.

The local council results for the same day and given by the same electorate speak volumes. It is also useless to theorise about policies and practices unless, after proper explanation, the theories make sense to the electorate.