Most who voted for the Nationalist Party last Saturday opted for those MPs who had never formed part of the government.
Apart from the expected personal success of leader Simon Busuttil, who got more than 20,500 first-count votes, and his deputy leaders, Beppe Fenech Adami (6,489 on the eighth district) and Mario de Marco (4,721 on the first district), the PN candidates who left their mark most were Stephen Spiteri, Kristy Debono and Ryan Callus, new MPs in the previous administration.
In contrast, most of those who sat on the Cabinet headed by Lawrence Gonzi either did not make it or saw their personal popularity wane. Dr Fenech Adami did the best of the two deputy leaders, returned from two districts and increasing his tally by more than 1,500 on the Birkirkara district, his home ground.
Dr de Marco increased his votes, but marginally at 264.
He was elected on the first count as he concentrated his efforts on the first district (Valletta, Floriana and Ħamrun).
Claudio Grech, touted as one of the contenders to succeed Dr Busuttil, fared well, increasing his vote count by almost a third on the amount he had won on first attempt at the polls in 2013.
However, the best performers for the PN in last week’s election were Ms Debono and Mr Callus.
Ms Debono, a young mother and the spouse of PN assistant secretary general Jean Pierre Debono – now also an MP– increased her tally by a staggering 3,028 on the ninth district and was elected on the first count.
Mr Callus, an engineer by profession and the youngest among the Nationalist sitting MPs in the last legislature, almost doubled his count despite the fact that he comes from Siġġiewi, the smallest of the localities in the sixth district, which also includes Qormi and Luqa.
Robert Arrigo, an experienced MP who has never occupied a ministerial post, also continued to strengthen his base, the tenth district, increasing his vote by 1,278 votes. He also increased votes on the ninth district, where he was also elected.
On the negative side, long-serving MPs who had also occupied official roles in various PN administrations were given the cold shoulder by the electorate. Some, including George Pullicino, Ċensu Galea and Francis Zammit Dimech, all three former Cabinet ministers, were not elected, and others saw formerly loyal voters switch to other candidates.
Former parliamentary secretary Clyde Puli suffered the highest vote haemorrhage, although he still made it to Parliament.
Former Cabinet ministers Carm Mifsud Bonnici and Jason Azzopardi and former parliamentary secretaries Mario Galea and Edwin Vassallo had fewer people vote for them this time.