The local council election results produced a win-win situation. There was reason for every party to celebrate.

The Labour Party had a clear majority and, therefore, cause for celebration.

The Nationalist Party fared significantly better than it did in the same round of elections held three years ago, halving the difference in votes previously obtained between it and the Labour Party and increasing its votes by 14,000. The results proved to be a welcome morale booster for the PN half way through this legislature.

Even Alternattiva Demokratika expressed satisfaction after electing a candidate in Attard.

Now that the dust has settled on the election results, the real analysis starts. This is crucial given that this was the last major electoral exercise before the next general election.

The PN needs to understand what worked and what didn’t, both for itself and for the PL. The results are, to some extent, conditioned by the spring hunting referendum but it is clear, even at a first glance, that Labour has started to shed its magnetism. It lost some of its appeal, not least in localities that are considered to be Labour strongholds.

The first step of building trust is building a channel of communication

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat publicly played down the importance of this undeniable fact by attributing the loss of votes to Karmenu Vella’s departure from Cabinet. For someone who is usually well prepared on what to say, this was a definite clanger by the Prime Minister that must have disappointed those from the south of Malta who decided not to vote Labour this time round. Their protest would appear to have gone unnoticed.

In fact, these elections demonstrated a marked difference in Labour’s attitude. From a party that positioned itself successfully as a voice for the people it is now positioning itself as a party that is the people.

This is a significant change in posture and one that has strong whiffs of arrogance. The PL is donning the ‘I know best’ mantle. It is closing its ears to justified concerns by those who care for the environment and by those who want to see Labour’s pledges of accountability, meritocracy and transparency put into practice.

The PN also has important lessons to learn. Gone are the days when politics were played out like a boxing match between two opponents. People, and by people I mean the middle-of-the-ground voters who determine where the penny drops, are simply not interested in the ‘us and them’ rhetoric. The electorate today is more interested in knowing how things can be improved, how challenges can be overcome and opportunities realised.

If it wants to win back the trust of the people, the PN has to start communicating like an alternative government.

The past two years were taken up by the PN putting its house in order. While further work in this regard remains to be done, we have to concentrate more on speaking to civil society, on reaching out even more to the electorate, on rebuilding bridges.

A lot has been done, as demonstrated by the local councils election result, but there is much more we need to do. Our focus has to be not so much simply on the PL and individuals but more on the aspirations of the nation.

Of course, we cannot, and should not, shy away from our duty to criticise the government and its officials when it errs. We need to hold this government accountable for its actions.

But we also need to give people hope for a better way of doing things. This may have been Labour’s biggest promise at the last general election and this may be its biggest failure to date in government.

I interpret these election results as a willingness on the part of the electorate to listen to what the PN has to say.

There are pockets of the population who have not yet made this shift, who are still wary of trusting the PN.

The shift in Gozo is particularly worrying. If we are to be successful in winning back the trust of the Gozitans then we need to give a stronger voice to Gozo in our policy fora. Our plans for Gozo need to emanate from Gozo. Clearly, the party needs to have a stronger presence in Gozo.

We have taken a number of steps at an organisational level. These were necessary but are clearly not enough.

The PN’s campaign was shorn of glitter. Rather than a plethora of public events, the campaign was based on personal contact with the electorate. Our candidates took to the streets, knocked on doors, listened to what the people had to say.

This process of reaching out has to continue. It is the best way of ensuring that the PN becomes the voice for the people, especially so now that the PL is abandoning this role.

We want our candidates, irrespective of whether they were elected or not, to continue carrying out this important task: of linking the people to the party. This is what being a people’s party is all about.

At the same time, though, we need to start working on a vision for this country which is not the fruit of short-term political compromises but a courageous way forward for the next generation.

The first step of building trust is building a channel of communication. This has been the biggest success story for the PN in past elections. We have opened again this channel. It is up to us to keep this channel open and use it to take the party and the country forward.

Mario de Marco is deputy leader of the Nationalist Party.