When Joseph Muscat was elected in 2013, he did so by restyling the Labour Party as a movement, an organisation that brought together people from different walks of life, people who traditionally did not support the Labour Party. That movement is now dead. It was killed last Tuesday in front of our law courts.

The crowd that gathered to support the people who stand accused of robbing Malta is, from now on, the new face of Labour. In truth, there is nothing ‘new’ about it. Those, who, like me, lived through the 1970s and 1980s have seen that anger and blind support before. We have seen Labour supporters stand four-square behind their leader as our country burned. Jason Micallef, Manuel Cuschieri and Muscat did not have to dig deep to bring out those sentiments. All they had to do is stoke a fire that was subdued but never extinguished.

Muscat needs that crowd to influence a judicial process that is holding him and others to account. This is not how democracy works or should work.

The crowd that gathered to support Muscat cared little that the auditor general, two courts and a magisterial inquiry had ruled that our country was the victim of a crime. They cared not that millions of euros were diverted from our healthcare system into the pockets of scoundrels. They cared not that funds for cancer research were routed into the pockets of fraudsters. The crowd continued to ask proof, despite the 78 boxes of evidence that were placed in front of the magistrate.

I am a politician and I can tell you that no politician deserves that blind faith. No politician is or should be beyond reproach or scrutiny. No politician should be above the law. Muscat knows this. Just as he knows that a crime was committed on his watch.

At the very least, he is guilty of looking the other way while the country was being robbed. At the very worst, he could be found guilty of aiding and abetting the thieves for a cut of the loot, if not masterminding the whole nefarious operation.

Where does all this leave Robert Abela? Abela is now leading a party which is primed to fight the institutions he is meant to protect. He is caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. But he has only himself to blame. He refused to distance himself, as he should have done, from his predecessor. He refused to stop the looting and had to be forced by the courts to terminate the hospital contracts.

Abela made the bed. He now has to sleep in it. His only hope, the same hope that kept the Muscat government’s criminal enterprise going, is a strong electoral victory. Popular support will give Labour, Abela and Muscat the power to ride roughshod over the last remaining public institutions that are carrying out their duties without fear or favour.

If you think that the worst that can happen is a crowd chanting ‘Viva Joseph’, think again- Mario de Marco

This is the simple truth that we as a country have to face. It is of no use that we complain in the confines of our homes, that we feel aghast with what is happening and then do not use the only tool we have in hand to stop the rot.

That tool is our vote. And the only true alternative to the Labour Party is the Nationalist Party.

The Nationalist Party is not perfect and will never be perfect. No institution is. But we have always fought to uphold the principles of democracy and rule of law. And we have continued to do so even from the opposition benches.

These mid-term elections can send one of two messages to the Labour Party in government. If you chose not to vote, vote Labour or vote for independent candidates that do not represent a political party that can realistically be an alternative government, then you are telling the party in government to keep doing what it is doing.

You might as well have been part of the crowd that stood and cheered Muscat as he entered the court on Tuesday morning.

If you want things to change, then you need to exercise your right and duty to vote to send a clear message to the government that you will not stand idle and watch as government institutions are hijacked, as public monies are stolen, as our healthcare system is defrauded by a criminal gang.

You have a choice. A choice to stand for democracy. If you prefer, you can choose to eat cake or eat cheques. Living in a democracy gives you that choice. But, then, do not decry what happens to Malta as we continue to sink further into the abyss. If you think that the worst that can happen is a crowd chanting “Viva Joseph”, think again.

Mario de Marco is the Nationalist Party’s spokesperson on tourism.