The Prime Minister’s request for a vote of confidence in the government after Parliament’s vote of no confidence in a leading ministers confirms the reality of a government supported by a coalition.

Time is running short for both the government and the opposition to get their act in order- Austin Bencini

After the resignation of Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, Lawrence Gonzi is more than conscious that to govern he has two reference points: the Nationalist Party which has total confidence in its leader as proven in the vote of confidence in his leadership of a few months ago.

The second is Nationalist MP Franco Debono.

The Prime Minister has realistically understood that this legislature is radically different from any other since independence.

Usually, Parliament was the sounding board of compact political majorities in which the fundamental decisions were taken by the party leadership within the party’s organs and/or Cabinet. The outcome of the votes in Parliament, even in those legislatures in which the government enjoyed the majority of only one seat, were taken for granted.

The Leader of the Opposition has of course also realised this and is naturally taking every opportunity to drive a wedge between the ‘coalition’ partners. If the tactic succeeds then the opposition would have managed to take away one of the Prime Minister’s most important constitutional advantages of being the only person who may decide the timing of the coming election.

There is of course a price to be paid by any government when facing a coalition situation. In this government’s case it was the loss of one of its most senior ministers.

The Nationalist Party and its parliamentary group were manifestly supporting Mifsud Bonnici in the vote of no-confidence proposed by the opposition.

Debono is now stating very clearly that he will not interfere in the Prime Minister’s prerogative of deciding alone when it is the time for us to vote.

The ‘coalition’ between Debono and the Nationalist government, however, needs resolving itself fast into an understanding of where they intend to go in the coming months.

The opposition may not be factual in its claiming that there is a political crisis. A look at the havoc which the euro crisis has brought to the stability of government in countries such as Italy, not to mention Greece, should make the opposition tone down its claims.

Yet, undoubtedly, the day-to-day negotiations often conducted in the charged atmosphere of votes of no-confidence in this or that minister or even in the government itself are not conducive to the country feeling that the governance of the country is being conducted in the serenity expected of it.

Debono, the Nationalist Party and ultimately the Prime Minister have to come to grips with the fact that constitutionally the elections have to be called by April 2013 at the latest. Equally the need for institutional serenity is fundamental in the light of the fight for survival of the euro and, therefore, for the future of the European Union, not to say of the entire European and world economies.

The country expects the MPs and the party elected at the last election by the majority of the electorate to come to grips with this reality which means that they have to look beyond the current legislature and work out the conditions that would guarantee the country will face stability after the election with clear and united positions of whoever is to govern us.

The current ‘coalition’ situation will not face up to an electoral test since at the end of the day the electorate wants to vote for parties united behind electoral programmes and a leadership subscribed to by all the candidates contesting the election on the ticket of a party.

The opposition still has to present a coherent programme of government should it be elected and quite naturally will do so when the election is called or at least one should expect so. The government side needs to show that the issues which have bedevilled this majority will not spill over at the election.

Time is running short for both the government and the opposition to get their act in order. Both must know of the increase in the number of undecided voters in the country.

Tomorrow’s vote needs in the national interest to be the beginning of this process of clarification within the political forces in Parliament.