Lawrence Gonzi got all the praise he deserved from the entire political spectrum as the send-off to his 25-year career in the House of Representatives, of which he served eight years as Speaker and 17 as an MP.

Of Malta’s post-Independence Prime Ministers he is the only one to have been Prime Minister without ever leading his party in Opposition, except for the brief interim period necessary for the election of his successor, Simon Busuttil, held immediately after Gonzi’s one and only serious political setback represented by the 2013 electoral result.

It was almost universally acknowledged that the dimension of the electoral defeat would not tarnish his distinguished nine-year premiership, which in effect put him on a par in third place with George Borg Olivier in the number of consecutive years in office, surpassed only by the two giants of Dom Mintoff and Eddie Fenech Adami.

Clearly, Gonzi’s daunting task of succeeding Fenech Adami as Nationalist Party leader and Prime Minister will undoubtedly be the benchmark against which his record will truly be assessed, even more than his many economic and diplomatic successes, particularly that of his handling of the Libyan crisis.

Comparisons will remain odious but historically inevitable; Gonzi has performed much better than Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici did when succeeding Mintoff. Unlike Mifsud Bonnici, Gonzi has to his credit winning one general election, in 2008, as party leader.

Many had decided to vote in favour of GonziPN for the simple reason that the party leader represented that vital element of continuity necessary for Malta to solidify and consolidate Fenech Adami’s EU victories at the referendum and the subsequent 2003 general election.

Of course, on succeeding Fenech Adami, after the latter’s unprecedented transition from Prime Minister to President, Gonzi was more than honoured to implement his predecessor’s electoral mandate by efficiently and competently leading Malta and its economy into the eurozone.

The bare majority with which Gonzi won the 2008 general election has the statistical paradox of making him the Prime Minister with the smallest overall majority of 1,500 preferences in 2008 but also with the largest overall minority of 37,000 votes of 2013.

In turn, this statistic helps us to understand that the Fenech Adami legacy has long outlived the man’s premiership.

The dimension of the electoral defeat will not tarnish Gonzi’s distinguished nine-year premiership

It is emerging clearly that Joseph Muscat’s electoral campaign was to outflank Gonzi in persuading significant sectors of the Nationalist electorate that Fenech Adami’s legacy was not endangered by a Labour victory. The strategy worked, since many a former Nationalist voter believed that Muscat would not demolish Fenech Adami’s vision for Malta.

During the electoral campaign, today’s Prime Minister even went so far as to state that he considered Fenech Adami’s premiership as having been necessary. Muscat therefore did a Tony Blair on Gonzi by shouldering him away from the electoral middle ground.

During Gonzi’s troubled second term as Prime Minister many had increasingly compared him to former British Prime Minister John Major, since both succeeded larger-than-life leaders, both won an election in their own right, both faced serious internal difficulties within their parliamentary support and both faced a labour leader who promised to leave intact the respective legacies of Margaret Thatcher/Fenech Adami and which were made their own by a large segment of Labour voters.

Blair never forgot the Iron lady’s legacy which had brought him to power.

What of Malta’s case? Fenech Adami’s five electoral majorities were based on three principles: majority rule, the central importance of fundamental human rights and, of course, Malta playing a positive and active role within the EU.

Muscat has undoubtedly fully legitimated his claim to majority rule. As for the rest, only a judicious understanding of the manner in which he plays his dual role of party leader and Prime Minister will underscore whether Fenech Adami’s legacy will endure or not.