Last Saturday I asked whether the winner would be the weather. It turned out that the winners are the people who affirmed once more their sovereignty in a big way.
The Nationalists did not just suffer a humiliating defeat. They did not just eat humble pie. They had humble pie splashed on their face by the electorate who then gave them a good kick in the groin. Almost twelve thousand voters deserted the PN. Things could have hardly turned out worse than that.
However, the people did not just move on from the PN to the PL or to AD. The Partit Laburista increased its percentages everywhere. This is a great victory and a success that Labour strategists should be happy with. There is, however, a little, but an important, but. The PL has increased its vote in absolute numbers by only one hundred or so, according to several reports which have not been contested.
The people stayed put. They changed the political mapping of Malta by setting up a new political party: Abstainers Party.
A number of questions arise. I will only point towards two.
Why did voters abstain from supporting the PN but did not move in hordes to the PL? Do they want to give the PN a chance to reform or are voters losing confidence in our political class? To say the truth, many in our political class are doing their utmost to make people trust them less. There is too much political character assassination going on.
The PN would be gravely mistaken if they find comfort in similar humiliating defeats suffered in previous years which were then followed by successes in the subsequent general elections. Many people are showing that this time round they have had enough. The task to change the direction of the tide is a mammoth one.
Did voters shy away from the PN because they , on their own, reach a sense of disgust towards the Government or did they reach this stage because of the campaign by the Labour party. If the answer is in the affirmative for the second option then the PL should be very happy that its campaign is bearing fruit. If the answer is a yes for the first option then the PL still has a lot to do to persuade people to vote for them instead of abstaining. Though even if the PL win by default it will be a victory just the same.
Most probably there is no one answer to these questions. It is not a situation of either/or but one of this in some cases/that in others.
The result shows that people will not accept to be taken for a ride and that they will not part with their votes lightly.