Three years ago the Maltese people were called to cast their vote in the 2013 General Elections. Even the most diehard and unrealistic Nationalist probably knew that the Nationalist Party was doomed to lose the elections and the Labour Party was set to return to the Government benches after a long 25 years in the Opposition.
However, although it was easy to predict Labour Party’s victory, few would have bet that the result was going to be landslide victory of around thirty six thousand votes. Having said that, in those elections the Labour Party had everything within its advantage. People in general were fed up of the Nationalist administration and if it weren’t for a poor marketing campaign, the 2008 General Election would have been won by the Labour Party as well. But the 2013 General Election showed that the Labour Party had learnt from its mistakes, or at least from a few of them.
Behind the slogan "Tagħna Lkoll’, the Labour Party worked hard to convince people that if given the people’s trust, they were going to be a different government from what the people were accustomed to through the 25 year span of Nationalist Government, particularly the final term. It was a campaign in favour of justice and meritocracy, as Labour hinted that corruption would be something they would be working hard against.
Today, three years later, the situation is different from what everyone expected.
It is true; the country is doing fine in terms of economy and employment, which probably are what people care about the most. But then again, economy was doing fine even within the last term of the Nationalist Party in Government and let’s not forget that during that term, Europe faced one of the biggest economic crisis in history.
The truth is that the campaign, set up by the Labour Party went far ahead than economic stability. They vowed that they would change the way politics are handled in Malta. But now, the political occurrences which are taking place in Malta are exposing various similarities between Joseph Muscat and Lawrence Gonzi.
The Konrad Mizzi situation is putting Joseph Muscat in what is probably the most uncomfortable situation in this legislature. It is hilarious that after days since the Panama situation has been revealed, Joseph Muscat hasn’t yet given a suitable explanation for it. It is evident that in this situation, the Labour Party has a lot to hide and a lot more to lose. For the first time in this legislature we are seeing a Prime Minister who is appearing weak and what is making him weak is the fact that the person who is accused of a scandal is his right hand man, Konrad Mizzi.
Mizzi was amongst the new faces within the Labour Party during the last general elections, but three years proved to be more than enough to show the trust that Muscat has in Mizzi. It was easy for Muscat to sack Anglu Farrugia, Manuel Mallia and recently Michael Falzon, but Konrad Mizzi is completely a different story. It is evident that Konrad Mizzi is untouchable and even if we had to live three consecutive life-times, we’ll never see Muscat sack Mizzi.
For those who have a good memory, this is a deja-vu of the Gonzi administration, where Lawrence Gonzi was constantly accused of defending his own people, but didn’t the Labour Party emphasise that they would be different than that?
The protest which took place last Sunday was a proof that although there is still a lot of skepticism about Simon Busuttil’s leadership skills, things aren’t as beautiful as they were for the Labour Party. For the first time in three years, it might have occurred to the Labour Party that good times don’t last forever and if they are not careful, their time in government might not be as long as they might be thinking.
