I am known for an affliction that involves my brain spinning and my teeth itching when numbers come into play, so forgive me for not being in a position to explain the arithmetical effect of the mistakes made by the Electoral Commission in the process of vote counting and packet attribution considered by the Constitutional Court.

The fact is that the arithmetical effect is not politically interesting, except insofar as in the first place, it seems that a couple of Labour candidates should not, actually, have been elected and, in the second place, the actual split according to the numbers (as worked out by the estimable David Thake on his Facebook page) should have resulted in an advantage of seven to Labour in the House, rather than nine.

Apparently, the bottom-line is that Dr Justyne Caruana should not, actually, have been elected, which means that she would have been spared the horror of having to travel in the plastic and string chopper that brought her to public attention some time ago.  She would also not have been eligible to take up office as one of Emperor Joseph's Praetorian Guard.

Not the ones that flank Empress Michelle and the Regal Family during their High Teas at the Girgenti and Francica Imperial Palaces, or kneel devoutly at Singularly Concelebrated Masses, the ones that sit around the Oblong Table at Camelot, or Castille, I mean.

There are also doubts, truth be told, about the validity of Prof. Edward "Peanuts" Scicluna's election.  For those of short memory, the "Peanuts" sobriquet applied to Scicluna does not refer to any simian quality inherent in the learned gentleman but to his own characterisation of his compensation for performing the functions of High Ministerial Office, a characterisation that did not prevent him from being an active proponent of a cost-of-living award for the rest of us that lived up to it.

The Court, probably sensibly, didn't go down the road of directing the cancellation of this pair's election result, which would have put the feline amongst the flying rats and no mistake, but instead ordered that the Nationalist Party should be given two more seats in the House, remedying the Electoral Commission's mistake and bringing the proportion more in line with the real wishes of the electorate.

Not that this puts Emperor Muscat in anything approaching the position that the hapless Gonzi had to face, for a full five years, at the mercy of gentlemen (and I use the term loosely) whose appreciation of loyalty and commitment to their declared political ideals was, to put it charitably, idiosyncratic.  In fact, an advantage of seven leaves the Sun King in as happy a position as nine did, so he's still got nothing to worry about, even if a couple decide to don a coat of different colour in due course, unlikely as even this would be.

Which makes me wonder why the Labour Party, who was not the main defendant, has declared that it, or the Government (same thing, when Labour are in power) intend to appeal the decision.  The fact was, is and remains, that the Electoral Commission made a mistake or three or more and the election result was skewed.   

This means that the composition of the House is wrong and - to quote Joe "On the Busses" Mizzi - the Highest Institution of the Land should never be "wrong".  

Even on the basis of magnanimity in victory, a concept that is as alien to Joseph Muscat as the ability to fly, the Court's decision should have been taken on board immediately and the situation adjusted as soon as the judgment was handed down.   In fact, Justyne Caruana should have taken it upon herself to offer to vacate her seat, as it seems she was awarded it on the basis of error (not hers, of course) but the Court offered a decent way out, which was not taken.

The Electoral Commission, in the coming days, will be considering the position, but in the meantime, Muscat and his Imperial Court have again demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that they see the world as theirs and they're going to cling to every single little inch of it, so there.