I firmly believe that the Maltese electorate was always wise enough to make the best possible electoral choice.

This time round, through the clear choice made, it decided to transmit a number of messages to both parties, who would be very unwise to reflect upon them superficially or worse still, ignore them.

For the Labour Party, I believe that there are three main clear messages. Firstly, that the electorate is willing to vote Labour if Labour comes along as a moderate, focused and united party, thus attracting even moderate Labourites, which the party had lost since, at least, 2003.

Secondly, that Labour still has a very long road to pursue to translate this victory in the European Parliament election into a general election victory, mostly because some 40,000 plus voters, who seem to be of a Nationalist inclination, still decided to stay home rather than vote Labour.

Thirdly, that the introduction of moderate Labourites within the party structures and party candidates would help Labour attract new voters, some of whom never voted Labour. The electorate has helped Joseph Muscat to pursue this mission by electing two Labour candidates considered to be moderates, and having the three Labour MEP candidates considered as moderates attract 52 per cent of the first count Labour votes, thus sending a clear message that this should be the "earthquake" that would leave a much desired effect with the electorate.

Unfortunately Labour still has some ranking officials who come across as good militants but bad strategists, and Dr Muscat has been given yet another signal that such officials need to be replaced to fully enhance Labour's chances of winning the next general election. The PL grassroots will always be there to vote in the likes of Joseph Cuschieri and John Attard Montalto, whilst attracting Nationalist and Labourite moderates to the PL is a very laborious exercise.

On the other hand, the Nationalist Party knows far too well that its vote was dampened by the fact that it occurred while Malta is being hit by one of the worst global economic recessions the world has ever seen. The fact that this European Parliament elections came almost within a year of the general election, when the electorate still has a fresh memory of the rosy pre-electoral promises made by the PM, many of which had to be put on the back burner due to the harsh reality of the global economic recession, played obviously very much against the Nationalist Party.

However, shelving this defeat on the basis of the global economic recession would be a grave mistake for the PN.

My perception is that what irked a great chunk of the electorate is how the government came across on some matters. Taking the typical example of the increase in the water and electricity bills, what irked many voters was not the actual increase itself but more that the increase was imposed on them, in a retroactive manner, without much thought and concern about the effect this would have on them and their families. Many voters felt the government was taking them for granted, and acting as if it had won an election by some big majority.

Thus, in a nutshell, while pushing forward with much needed reforms in various sectors, the PN must make sure that it does not overlook form for function. In this case, the end will not justify the means!

Moreover for the future, as the global economic situation is expected to recover from 2010 onwards, the electorate expects the full implementation of the electoral promises made by the present Nationalist government.

Finally, I believe that this European Parliament election has proved that the strategy to discredit Labour candidates or the Labour leader on the basis of its past anti-EU membership position, cuts no ice with the electorate.

The electorate had already decided to punish the PL that in the 2003 referendum and election. Then in 2008, Labour decided to punish itself by not having the courage to change its leader and build a credible alternative. A bill can only be paid once!

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.