I’ve not written before now on the result of the MEP Election because, frankly, I’ve been a bit iffy about what to write.  

The knee-jerk reaction of many on the PN side of the equation has been “what a disaster, we need to do something about it” and while everyone has some sort of idea what the “something” could be, when pressed not many are able to put it in any logical sequence that makes for calm reflection.   I’m not saying I’m any different, because if pressed as to what the PN should do now, I’d be very much on the same lines.  

In hindsight, of course, there’s plenty that could be said about what the PN shouldn’t have done in the immediate past (immediate as in the last twelve months, really)

They shouldn’t have been perceived as being against gay marriage, which they weren’t, but that was the perception.   Would it have made the blindest bit of difference if they had voted “yes” rather than abstaining?   I think not, to be honest.

The PN shouldn’t have been so negative, perhaps?   Poppycock, it is the Opposition’s Constitutional duty to oppose, not to hop into bed with the Government and just because Joseph Muscat stamps his little feet every time someone doesn’t immediately burst into orgasmic applause every time he does something doesn’t mean that this is negative behaviour.

What else should the PN have done that would led to their gaining ground on Labour rather than remaining in exactly the same position they were twelve months ago?  

I were stood up against a wall and made to point at one thing that shouldn’t have been done, I’d say that the PN shouldn’t have fallen for Muscat’s gambit to make this a head-to-head between him and Simon Busuttil.   It might have been more appropriate for the PN to have taken the high moral ground and told Muscat “fine, you make this into a sordid partisan little scrap, we’ll fight on the European level, a level you clearly don’t really aspire to”, but would it have made a difference? 

Again, I doubt it.

Looking forward, should the PN leadership, Busuttil in particular, fall on their sword?    They’ve said they won’t, they’re in it for the long fight and not to chicken out at the first setback, and on balance, I tend towards agreeing with them.  

This doesn’t mean that the deadwood, especially those that don’t understand the concept of loyalty, shouldn’t be cut out and chucked onto the bonfire of their own vanities, to be sure, but seriously, in the cold light of day, was it even conceivable that Joseph Muscat’s wave of populist euphoria, bolstered by the handing out of sweeties and iced buns, likely to be pushed back after a single year?  

I confess I was as much a sucker as the next thinking man, taking into account what I would have called the PR disasters of embracing the criminal Engerer, handing out 2 cents’ worth of fuel rebate and a whole €16 per year of stipend increases, and thinking that these would make a blind bit of difference, because they didn’t.

All in all, Muscat is justified in swanning around with an even bigger smirk on his face. 

Even erudite pundits such as yours truly fell for his spins about Labour being underdogs and about the third seat being in play for the PN (it still might be, but the margin is so slim as to make it of small relevance in the greater scheme of things) so can you imagine the extent to which Labour’s heartland voters felt they should not come out and vote for their man?  

No extent at all, as is obvious from the result and while the 80,000 abstainers are a phenomenon to be analysed, they certainly won’t give Muscat much pause at this time: more of the same, in spades, is what awaits us.

It would be remiss of me not to make a few remarks about the Racist Scum Effect on these elections.  It is saddening that the parties, if they can be called that, associated with racist ranting and general xenophobia managed to get such a number of votes. 

True, equally obnoxious outfits in Britain and France made inroads there too, but that is no excuse for the electorate’s behaviour here.  

The main political parties, the ones who have the country’s interests at heart, for all that they go about achieving their objects in different ways, have to put a stop to the racists once and for all.