The time of "buying" people was over and the public needed respect not promises and pampering, Social Policy Minister John Dalli insisted yesterday.

Next time round, the hours spent apologising to Nationalist Party supporters should have been dedicated to persuading Labourites to vote for the PN, he said addressing the party's general council.

The results of the general election were a reflection of the local elections, whereby the electorate did not want to vote for the PN but held back from voting for the Labour Party, not wanting the MLP in government, Mr Dalli maintained in his analysis of the March 8 results.

The difference between the two realities was that, in the general election, the PN realised the magnitude of the problem and chased the electorate to apologise.

The next election would pose a different scenario so the chosen officials were important: "They have to know the people and be known; they must have always been loyal to the party and never regretted being part of it".

Mr Dalli said that, today, Malta could have been led by the confused group that was the MLP, a party that was still looking for direction and a common ground. For former Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo, the scenario was changing: People felt they did not need politics and politicians any more and would not vote.

Others would feel that too many years in power meant the impossibility of victory and would start distancing themselves. Money in hand was not the exclusive recipe for victory and egoism and indifference to the common good was strong.

What was important was to focus on political correctness and the creation of a society that was morally strong.

Resources Minister George Pullicino, also addressing the council, stressed the importance of having candidates who would have gone through a formation process. The party had to start looking for young candidates for the upcoming elections as of now and AŻAD - the academy for the development of a democratic environment - needed to be a political school in their formation, he said.

The party had to be renewed not just by choosing new officials but also by looking for new faces to stand as candidates and giving them the best training.

Analysing the mistakes of the MLP in the last election, more than the PN's, and saying they had counted their chickens before they hatched, outgoing general secretary Joe Saliba stressed that the PN would never give a "walkover" - not even in five years' time.

Referring to MLP general secretary Jason Micallef's comments on the appointment of Gordon Pisani, former PN information director, as head of communications within the Office of the Prime Minister, Mr Saliba asked: "Who should we put, (One TV journalist) Charlon Gouder?"

Mr Pisani had a vision not just for the party but for the good of the country, Mr Saliba said.

Mr Saliba, who has declared he will not stand for the post of general secretary, said he had learnt and grown a lot in the past nine years: "I started with the aim to win and I am ending with the aim for the country to win," he said, to loud cheering.

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