I decided to contest the last election because I believed the Nationalist Party was the answer to everything I hold dear. It is the party that has always treasured the same values as mine and was always on the right side of history. I did it as part of my vocation to give back a bit of my life to the party that believes most in the country I love and lived in.

Today, on the eve of an election, I still feel the same about Malta, the PN and our shared values.

When I decided to contest I did it with conviction. With no worries – because I had seen what the party had done not for the party itself, or for the ones who led the party. The PN has always practised something I cherish – a true willingness to sacrifice all for the country, for the love of freedom, liberty and democracy.

Before the 2013 election I was sure of two things: what the PN in government had delivered and what the Labour Party was saying it would deliver. Anyone with less experience than me could have been taken for a ride by Joseph Muscat and his smile.

Muscat promised that the Labour Party of old was gone; the new one, which he built and rebranded, was the new way of politics he told anyone who would listen. And people listened.

Back then, just four years ago, he was all smiles for the media, all sweetness, squeaky clean. He was the best salesman for the brand he took over and hijacked together with his henchmen.

I did not fall for his smile at all. But many did, and many voted for a change, putting Muscat at the head of a government that promised innumerable things. It was all smiles, all promises, all was going to be perfect.

Labour, headed by Muscat, seemed to many to be the best package, the best brand, the best way forward.

Labour has managed to make people believe that politics and all politicians are toxic

As usual Labour has now let the country down: they promised a lot, they promised a wonderfully glitzy package and delivered the opposite. They delivered nothing but bad news.

Muscat not only placed people at the top of corporations and organisations and in government who were completely unfit for purpose but he went all the way and defended the indefensible. He defended and elevated crooks, those who were caught planning terrible dealings, those who were his own trusted friends, ones he put on a pedestal and who became indispensable to him.

So indispensable that he kept them even if he knew he would drag his party, his government and the country into the worst-ever scandal.

The only thing Labour hasn’t done – so far – is destroy the economy. And even that will soon happen unless action is taken immediately.

They have a complete disregard of the spirit of the law, ending up with a farcical police commissioner feasting on rabbit while Malta was rocked by terrible revelation after revelation. Labour under Muscat has gone ahead and turned important positions like the head of the FIAU and MFSA into stooges.

Life under the PN was good. It was not heaven and it had its bad moments but anything that was wrong pales into silliness when compared to what Labour are dishing out regularly now, a few years after taking over the country’s reins.

I got into politics knowing I was doing my bit for the country and for the party that believes in the country and not in the wallet of a few close buddies.

I am now more than convinced, not just morally but with hard evidence, that the best way forward for me, my children and grandchildren, the people of Malta and its future was, and remains, the PN.

Labour has managed not just to create problems within institutions but to make people believe that politics and all politicians are toxic.

I believe the PN has learnt a lot of lessons while in opposition and can now definitely clean up the mess Labour has wrought throughout the country. The PN back in power will give strength and conviction to the idea that politicians are not all corrupt or yes-men always doing their leaders’ bidding even if it means supporting people who are not clean or seen to be clean.

I hope the election is fought on level grounds and fairly. What I am convinced of is that, if reason prevails, the only way forward will be to see the PN back in power. And Malta will breathe easily again.

Mario Rizzo Naudi is a Nationalist Party election candidate.