24 hours later

Saviour Balzan says that the Nationalist party needs to mutate. To do this it needs to make fundamental changes and do away with its present leadership and this includes Simon Busuttil

Saviour Balzan 11 March 2013, 12:00am

2 min read

The immensity of the Labour victory has probably not yet sunk in. 36,000 votes majority does not come from nowhere.

I just hope that the present Nationalist Party realises that a simple superficial facelift is not going to save the day.

It is a pity that all the old PN ministers have been re-elected. It will be very difficult to make internal reforms with the same old faces who were part of the last government still around.

If they really want to rebuild the party, they really need to change the leadership and the people who ran the show, and that includes Lawrence Gonzi and Simon Busuttil.

Keeping Simon Busuttil at all costs would also be a serious mistake.

He was a walking disaster and did not help the campaign.

And I think that they really need to think out of the box.

They need to ask themselves why they lost in such a big way and start, for a change, blaming themselves and not anyone else.

Everyone has his or her own personal reasons for they voted for any of the three parties, or whether they voted at all.

Those reasons can be confronted and debated but surely the fact that such a colossal switch happened means that was something seriously wrong.

Yet, it is up to the PN to realise that the massive haemorrhage towards Labour is a wake up call.

In the last five years there were three wake up calls and they were ignored.

The first was the national election in 2008, which was won by a margin of 1,600 votes.

I continue to believe that had it not been for Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and the way the whole Mistra conundrum was manipulated by the PN, Alfred Sant would have won the election.

The second message, was the European parliamentary election in 2009, while the third was the divorce referendum.

In all the three episodes, the electorate sent a very clear message. And the risposte to this was absolute arrogance.

In all three examples, the MaltaToday surveys (by the way never reported on TVM) were spot on.

The backbench rebels Franco Debono, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Jesmond Mugliett did not help the Gonzi administration, neither did absolute one-sided reporting of State TV hijacked by Where's Everybody or former PN officials and journalists.

The last five years have been the worst form of State Broadcasting ever and continued in the last two days with a shameful and second-rate reportage of the whole election.

This morning watching TVAM I could not help noting Pierre Portelli's biased commentaries - especially his condescending quips about Alternattiva.

Going by his bias after such an electoral result, I would not be too surprised that the PN makes the same mistake, political leaders and parties make after losing in such a big way.

Founder and co-owner of MaltaToday, Saviour Balzan has reported on Maltese politics and...

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I was watching the programm yesterday on tvm evening with Norman Vella i will not comment on the programm but on watching norman presenting a programm on national TV with the jacket open for the whole evening i think it was in a bad taste to say the least in my opinion he looked like a gazzu tar rahal. joscall

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@ pawl Were YOU actually sentient in the days of GonziPN's regime and the lows that PBS stooped?

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'The last five years have been the worst form of State Broadcasting ever' .... to quote the great John McEnroe : You can NOT be serious ! Were you actually sentient in the days of Mintoff and Xandir Malta ?

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Please dont include Simon Busuttil for the Leadership of the PN. Choosing him will be all of the same old vision of the GonziPN era.

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"The backbench rebels Franco Debono, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Jesmond Mugliett did not help the Gonzi administration" : Please note that ultimately parlamentarians are supposed to put the interests of their country first, and not those of their party. This is where true irgulija comes in, as opposed to being a mere puppazz / yes-man.

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Complete agreement Saviour. I can hear the excuses now. I can hear SB's excuses. "I was not there all the while. Its not my fault. I just followed orders !!!!!!!!!"

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And there is more yet to come. Wait until the results of the local councils are out!!!

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Malta Taghna Lkoll means that the country should be snatched back from those who believed that Malta is Taghna Biss. So it is expected that WE should be kicked out of TVM, lock stock and barrel, as should also all the PN cronies who run the show in State TV and radio. By the way, congratulations to the Malta Today crew whose polls, in two consecutive elections, predicted a spot-on result. Keep it up. MT is the only printed newspaper that i read.

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Hekk kond ktibt f'Marzu tat-2012.....Gonzi tells his faithful: ‘Go to the electorate and regain their trust', also announcing two initiatives to keep the party close to the people. Simon Busuttil as his special envoy to organise meetings within AZAD and PN secretary general Paul Borg Olivier to organise meetings in different localities. Mr. Prime Minister you are 4 years tooooooooooooooo laaaaaaaaaaaaaate. Kemm hija sabiha lis-storja li dejjem tirrepeti lila nnifisa lis-stess kien gara fi zmien il-Prim Ministru Gorg Borg Olivier li izjed kien mohhu fuq l-Indipendenza u halla lil-Ministri u l-Gvern jaghmlu li jridu u meta ntebah ipprova jirranga s-sitwazzoni izda xorta wahda tilef l-elezzjoni tal-1971. Hekk qed jerga jigri issa f’din l-elezzjoni tal-kunsilli lokali…issa f’dawn l-ahhar gimghatejn irid lill kandidati jmorru ghand in-nies?????????? u fl-elezzjoni li gejja meta qed jibghat lill Ministri u l-Gvern wkoll ghand in-nies ………x’differenza minn meta l-PN kien imexxi l-magna tal-partit blis-street leaders, area leaders, safe houses, kazini (issa ufficcini) organizzati b’laqghat kontinwi u lill-membri tal-kumitati (il-vera kunsilliri) lanqas kienu jtuhom nifs u l-hin kollu f’kuntatt dirett mahhom biex jkunu qed jaraw x'qed jigri fit-toroq u d-djar. Il-magna tal-PN marret lura fi-zmien l-ahhar tas-sittinijiet u ghalhekk il-PN qieghed 9 punti taht il-PL. u li ser jaqla’ tkaxkira li ma jfieqx minna fl-10 ta’ Marzu

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A lapse of 24 hrs after the most resounding defeat in the history of local politics is certainly to premature a time to analyse all the reasons (and there is a multitude) why the electorate abandoned the party. The worst thing that can happen is the anointing of a new leader based on the vote of the current delegates and party structures . What is certain is that nothing worse can happen than appoint Simon as leader based on a consensus of discredited party delegates.The party should leave time for reflection and for an opportunity for fresh new faces perhaps as yet not militant in the party (for example former leaders of the KSU) but who have charismatic qualities to emerge. The party must select its leader on the basis of consensus and support from the grass roots. A type of primary voting mechanism where every party member would have a say is essential if a charade mock vote as was the vote of confidence in LG or the anointing of SB is not to repeat. A sure recipe for isolating the party further from its grassroots.

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A lapse of 24 hrs after the most resounding defeat in the history of local politics is certainly to premature to analyse all the reasons why the electorate abandoned the party. The worst thing that can be done is the anointing of a new leader based on the vote of the current delegates . What is certain is that nothing worse can happen than appoint Simon as leader based on a consensus of discredited party delegates.The party should leave time fpr reflection and for an opportunity for new faces perhaps as yest not militant in the party but who have charismatic qualities to emerge. The party must select its leader on the basis of consensus and support from the grass roots. A type of primary mechanism where every party shoul

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Bang on Saviour. The Nationalist party's voting patterns reflect either, that these people are so dyed in the wool arrogant narcissists/sadists, or love to cultivate a death wish. They may go to hell for all I care, but democracy dictates otherwise. Malta needs a strong alternative to any elected Government, even if one made up completely of saints. Therefore, it is in Malta's interests to have a strong PN, or call it what you will. Of course, all old grandees have to vacate the premises and pronto. But will this be possible, if these same failures have been re-elected with smart numbers? I am beginning to perceive a PL led environment for a longish time.

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I am expecting that Joseph Muscat nominates Mario de Marco as President of the Republic....

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"It will be very difficult to make internal reforms with the same old faces who were part of the last government still around" - meaning they should go for John Dalli? "This morning watching TVAM I could not help noting Pierre Portelli's biased commentaries" - Or was it because his disagreed with MT's runner?