It should be troubling to every politician that so many people do not view the politics the parties provide them as relevant, believable or representing their interests.
The last elections clearly sent a message to our mainstream parties and to the elite of this country that there is a silent majority in Malta who will not be disrespected and who will fight back.
These elections had one thing in common: they were driven by disaffected voters who felt frustrated with a status quo that wasn’t working for them anymore. They were frustrated and angry and demanded change, and they were determined to upset the applecart. They rejected the parties’ desperate plea to vote.
Perhaps it is time for a reckoning.
It is problematic that one of the most foundational components of our democracy, with its ability to challenge governments and inform voters, is now summarily dismissed as opposed to the viewpoints of a large segment of the population.
Our politicians across the whole political spectrum must go back to the drawing board and devise doable and effective policies that would provide a real service to our country and to the many of our fellow citizens who feel they are no longer a welcome part of the dialogue.
While those electoral results might have heartened the PN, in so far as it achieved a respectable result against all odds, at the same time, they have placed Labour in an awkward position due for a reckoning.
It will be those who reinvent themselves as newly minted Labourites who risk faring the worst in the long run. They have so far ruled for long stretches but eventually most will face a political reckoning. The people they govern are nearly no longer accepting their authority and are demanding change.
At such an inflection point, Labour faces a choice: it can cling to power, albeit by ceding a certain degree of control, or it can exit governing altogether, either by self-destructing the party entirely or, more dramatically, by reinventing themselves as social democrats.
It might continue enjoying electoral success in the short term but it will end up losing power in the long run.
Labour currently seems to be hoisting itself on its own petards. It will possibly endeavour to attract even more new faces who, however, might easily prove to be mere opportunists.
Our politicians across the whole political spectrum must go back to the drawing board
Up until the next general election, Labour will most probably simply cling to power, counting on a loyal if unhappy electorate, even if it means ceding much of their once-monopolistic grip on power to democratic reforms.
From unprecedented massive electoral landslide victories, Labour has consistently been succumbing to allegations of deception, mismanagement and fraud soon afterward. For Labour, it’s been an impressive run that, like all winning streaks, must one day end. The prevailing political question for the coming months is whether that day is at hand.
Polls will most probably continue to show the PN narrowing the gap between it and Labour when voters are asked about their inclinations in the next general election due in less than three years from now. If so, this will indicate that Labour may be rotting at the roots.
There are very large, dark clouds hanging over the Labour Party. It needs to show the electorate that it can govern in a credible manner that satisfies general expectations. That is what the electorate hired it to do in 2013. Ever since, it has failed and continues to fail miserably, inevitably driving an electorate to change management.
The latest electoral results might have been a rebuke, or they could serve as a wake-up call for Labour.
Whatever new and inviting promises Labour might come up with in the meantime, it must make good on them if it envisages regaining thousands of disillusioned followers. If it falls short, it will face exceptionally harsh outcomes at the next polls.
The PN has successfully managed to allow the Labour government’s raw and ugly politics to capture the debate. Bernard Grech will be sitting down and deciding if he’s the man who can lead his party back to basic principles, remould the PN and claim Castille once again.
For now, there is no obvious choice for either the PN or Labour.
Yet, both parties remain in dire need of a national leader having the courage to lead, which, in both cases, means standing up to big business and exercising the prerogatives of government and, most importantly, having the political capital and personal charisma to push through sweeping changes in messaging and direction.
The decision of both the PN and Labour not to challenge or replace their leaders means that this reckoning on the parties’ directions will be postponed for at least another election cycle (and, in the way of these things, will almost certainly be postponed until after a not improbable, bruising, unarguable defeat for either). What that direction can (and should) be is up for vigorous debate. Some of it is tone and messaging.
The vision of our mainstream parties will somehow need to be paired with messaging that has mass appeal and a satisfying image of a puissant, benevolent government.
The irony is that, without real change, the two major parties that built democracy over the years by supporting free elections risk falling victim to the same democratic forces they championed.
The fix isn’t going to happen this cycle. But the problem is there. And, sooner or later, the reckoning is coming.