Nearly six months ago, we wrote in this newspaper (December 27) to explain our raison d’etre why we decided to be proactive in the local political scene and why we were offering our services as prospective Nationalist Party election candidates.

We said our decision was inspired by what Pope Francis teaches on the participation of Catholics in politics according to one’s ability. He reminds us that according to the social doctrine of the Church “politics is one of the highest forms of charity because it serves the common good”.

Since our election as members of Parliament, we have been inundated with messages of congratulations from people from all walks of life, coming from all over Malta and Gozo, and having different political beliefs.

It is so obvious that we are overwhelmed with their reactions but, at the same time, humbled and feeling all the more our responsibility to deliver what we promised to the electorate.

In the meetings with our electors we made one solemn promise: our commitment to Malta’s interests and also to all of the electorate without prejudicial considerations, is second to nothing else.

We were elected from two different districts which, we have to say, have distinct characteristics with their various points of strengths and weaknesses, priorities and urgent needs. Kristy was elected from the ninth district while Jean Pierre was elected from the seventh district.

In interviews after the election we were frequently asked what was ‘the secret’ behind our success story (Kristy: 4,022 votes; Jean Pierre: 1,951 votes). The answer is as simple as you might imagine. Work, or rather, hard work. There is really no alternative to that ‘magic’ formula which is not ‘magical’ at all.

We can safely say that we knocked on thousands of doors and, to be honest, we had an extraordinary rate of people ready to engage with us, even from those who politely would tell us that they were not of our political opinion, but yet ready to enter with us into highly interesting conversations.

We knocked on thousands of doors and had an extraordinary rate of people ready to engage with us

We have once more confirmed that door-to-door campaigning is still the best way to meet your electorate so that you come to realise better people’s situations on the ground.   This method remains the most single ‘magic’ formula out of all the other strategies such as direct mail, social media and grand political activities.

Having  said that, we should quickly add that another aspect which we consider as having contributed to our tangible political results is our participation in the local media: on television, radio, newspapers and, very importantly, on the social media.

We discovered that people were quite appreciative about our contributions not only on subjects which were of strict relevance to them personally or to their district but all the more on subjects of national significance.

It may be relevant to point out that a recent poll conducted by The Times (London) about the 2017 election found, perhaps surprisingly, that 76 per cent of the electorate still rely on television broadcasts for their political information. We have a hunch that this applies also to our case.

One other particular aspect which stands out from the hundreds of messages we received and which, quite naturally, was the most appreciated, is the reference to our bond as a family unit, and how intrinsically important it should be in our ‘new’ situation.

Truly, all these commitments, which will grow even further after the outcome of this general election, tend to continue limiting our quality time together and with our two-year-old daughter Serena Dawn.

We, however, intend to plan as much as possible, our already busy schedule, so as to guarantee to ourselves and to our daughter this quality time which, from experience, we know is the proper fulcrum on which a committed family should depend on.

We recognise all the strains this new situation might impose on us. Lately we have also been described as ‘role models’. Though, again, we are appreciative about this, as a matter of fact we would rather prefer to be considered as a living example of that old saying that ‘where there is a will there is a way’.

In other words, those who are ready to sacrifice themselves to reach a particular goal, will be successful.

All this incumbency puts on us the responsibility to try to always perform at maximum levels. We recognise that this is, most probably, nigh impossible to achieve all the time but we can assure that our commitment will always be total, in the light of the fact that humans have limits, of which, we believe, have much more than we would have preferred.

In this first contribution after the general election, we would like to thank so many people, especially our extended families, who toiled with us to achieve our primary goal.   This is only the proverbial ‘first step’. Without all this help we cannot even think to start walking our way forward.

We would like to again finish with another ‘gem’ from Pope Francis: “The world tells us to seek success, power and money;  God tells us to seek humility, service and love.”

We’ll strive to adopt Pope Francis’s exhortation as our guiding light in the delicate and challenging path ahead of us.

Kristy Debono and Jean Pierre Debono are Nationalist Party MPs.