The Nationalist Party currently finds itself at a crossroads. Whereas, prior to the last election, it was expected to be in the process of rebuilding itself and paving the way for the next generation of PN leaders, it failed to understand that the party needed a bold new agenda.

The PN simply did not want to know which issues were most important to me and my family, what I think about the challenges we face as a nation and what direction I would like to see its candidates take. The PN hardly raised any questions that could have been grounds for legitimate ideological debate and, instead, got lost in a number of red-meat no-brainers like the trackless tram or the traffic contraventions conundrum.

Was this really the best the party could come up with? Did anyone expect it to learn much from the number of surveys that were continually being churned out prior to the last election and much before?

Everyone in the Nationalist Party except, perhaps, for some individual candidates like Adrian Delia and Joe Giglio, seemed to be stuck in a 2008 frame of mind. I can only conclude that a lot of budding Nationalist politicians are not seriously interested in the kind of critical introspection required to rebuild a struggling political party.

Over the next few months, as the election results are properly analysed and post-election polling conducted and examined, the PN should spend a lot of time slicing and dicing the data. But, in the meantime, the party needs to undergo some soul-searching about its future. Of all its qualities, or what is left of them, long-term planning, discipline and seeing things through the eyes of others are not among its strongest.

Those who have the long-term interests of the PN at heart should be thinking about where their party and country are today and where they are headed. The two are not moving in the same direction.

Those Nationalists who are around after that should be thinking about what will be left of their party and what they can do to alter what certainly appears to be an existential threat. Not that Labour is above screwing up a favourable situation but counting on the other party to blow it is usually not a wise strategy.

I expect that, within the PN, there is going to be a lot of teeth-gnashing- Mark Said

Obviously, anytime you have a loss like the one in the last election, I expect that, within the PN, there is going to be a lot of teeth-gnashing and soul-searching and that there will be a debate as to whether or not to move to a more progressive agenda, with the younger generation and new faces militating within the party.

The party needs to find an effective way how to deliver a message that resonates with everybody. Conservatism has always been the PN’s unusual political force in Malta, even more so than it was elsewhere. A disparate movement to begin with, what had typically united Nationalist conservatives across their other divides has been their common opponent: the Labour Party that eventually transformed itself into a very effective movement that reaped and continues to reap dividends.

Not so surprisingly, in such a scenario, genuine dialogue across the party divide has become enormously difficult, the possibility for bipartisan cooperation has nearly faded away and non-governance is threatening to become the new normal. This is bad for Malta. For the sake of the country, and for the sake of their party, the Nationalists need to enter a new round of ideological soul-searching.

The challenge they face is unique: how to put forward a coherent platform for a revolutionary and inviting vision for the future of our country while remaining generally committed to its fundamental Christian Democratic principles. Without such a forward-looking agenda, the Nationalists cannot avoid appearing shrill and reactionary.

Criticism and reform of specific government programmes and proposals will become much more successful if the PN demonstrates how its positions are not based on a reflexive anti-government stance but, rather, upon a well-thought-out and comprehensive political vision.

Clearly, the mainstream of the Maltese public has not been impressed with their performance over the last few years. All this suggests that the PN has a lot of work to do.

The Nationalists would do well to make the most of this time: to dig deep, think hard, and re-examine and renew their basic commitments.