As a Maltese saying rightly warns, the hasty cat is likely to give birth to blind kittens. But, on the other hand, it is best to strike while the iron is still hot and not leave for tomorrow what you can do today.

Such useful advice, and a lot more, ought to be heeded as the badly bruised Nationalist Party goes through the painful though necessary process of diagnosing all its ailments, external and internal, to decide on the required surgery and subject itself to it come what may and irrespective of the inconveniences of convalescence.

If a week is too long in politics, five years must be an eternity. Yet, unless it acts wisely and meaningfully, the PN may find that the duration of this legislature may be too short a period for it to make itself electable again.

So, although there should not be unnecessary haste, the diagnostic and healing process must start soonest. The finger-pointing and I-told-you-so part of it should be skipped because, let’s face it, there are so many people one could hurl stones at that all the quarries of Malta will not suffice.

There may have been a small group of people that had the PN by the throat. Still, there should have been a bigger group that could and should have stood up to be counted and insist that things must change.

It must really hurt those genuine Nationalist supporters, still reeling from a crushing victory at the polls by Labour, to hear senior PN exponents say, now, that they were certain the party would lose.

Question is: why did they allow it? Did they decide not to rock the boat, fearing they might fall overboard themselves? Did they prefer to sweep problems under the carpet? Did they continue to feed the crocodile hoping it would eat them last? They got their answer last Saturday.

What really matters now is to look ahead while also recalling where the re-invigorated post-George Borg Olivier PN, led by Eddie Fenech Adami, had started from, the heights it had reached but, more importantly, how it got there.

Which is not to say that one should follow the same route because what worked then will not necessarily work now.

One contributory factor to what happened in the last election could have been that the PN thought it could continue propelling itself forward with the thrust it had been given in the crucial 1980s.

It may have rested on its laurels and kept singing from the same hymn book. It either failed to see the signs of the times or misread them.

There was a time when in the Nationalist Party many saw nationalist pride, when, even for non-supporters with minds of their own, the PN was the one that had a vision for this country and was the best answer to its many problems.

An honest analysis, without any ifs or buts, must now be carried out. Lawrence Gonzi has already declared he will not run for leader again, as did the general secretary, Paul Borg Olivier.

Simon Busuttil, who has only been deputy leader for three months, has declared he will not run again but may well contest the leadership post.

The best way forward demands thought and, equally important, a semblance of harmony within the party. This is unlikely to come quickly.