The Nationalist Party held a rally for its activists this evening in what can be viewed as the unofficial opening of its electoral campaign, two days after the Budget was defeated, precipitating the collapse of the government. The official electoral campaign starts on January 7 and the political parties have agreed to cease political activities over Christmas, starting on Monday.

The main hall of Nationalist Party headquarters was packed with supporters, some of them singing Gonzi jerga jkun fil-gvern as the prime minister arrived accompanied by Mrs Gonzi.

The rally was addressed by PN General Secretary Paul Borg Olivier, Deputy Leader Simon Busuttil and Dr Gonzi, who stood on stage in front of a group of young people wearing t-shirts in different colours - possibly an attempt by the party to project unity in diversity. It was a contrast to the all-white GonziPN t-shirts worn in the last electoral campaign.

Dr Busuttil said the election was a challenge which the PN could, should, and must win for the good of the country. He said that being in government was a means to an end, the end being to move the country forward.

Like the EU referendum of exactly 10 years ago, this was an election which needed to be won Għalina u għal-uliedna (for us and for our children) - to consolidate Malta's achievements since joining the EU. There was no guarantee that such achievements would be maintained if Labour won, he said.

Malta deserved to have a Nationalist government to maintain economic growth, job creation, and progress in health and education. And could Malta be in the hands of a Labour government in the next five years, as it celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of independence, as it served its term as EU president, and as Valletta was the European capital of culture?

Labour, he said, was inconsistent and lacking in ideas. It also did not keep its promises, as evident by what happened in the case of stipends and VAT. How could Labour be believed when it said it would reduce power tariffs without raising taxes?

Labour was saying it wanted a change of direction for the country and that, in itself, was worrying, since the country was doing well, Dr Busuttil said.

Near the end of his speech he borrowed another old campaign slogan, saying the electoral campaign was a race against time for the PN. It had started moving, and Is-sewwa jirbaħ zgur (truth will prevail). The supporters, he said, needed to believe they could win it, and they would.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said the PN, through this rally, was telling the people that it was ready to continue to serve. This was another moment of truth which brought out the best of the PN.

The PN in government had given the people the best tools with which to tackle their challenges and the people had responded, with the country achieving better results than its neighbours.

He said the government had improved medical services, as exemplified by the opening of Mater Dei five years ago and the current building of a new cancer hospital. And medical services were kept  free of charge.

The environment was improved with many areas being transformed into attractive squares and gardens and the sea becoming the cleanest in the Med.

Parents and their children could enjoy new and better equipped schools.

This government also safeguarded jobs and created 20,000 new ones. The country had a record number of gainfully occupied, a record number of graduands, and a record number of students in tertiary education.

It was for this reason that he always asked the people to judge the government by its results, Dr Gonzi said. These results were achieved when the government had everything against it, and the PN, therefore, had good reason to be proud. Supporters should explain all this to the people, he stressed. They had a good argument with which to win the general election.

'Let's go for it' Dr Gonzi concluded to applause. Ir-rebħa tagħna terga tkun, he said, using a phrase similar to the Labour anthem.