I can read the figures, so don’t come talking to me about seeing the messages.

Did you expect a PN victory in this election, you stupid man? I have nothing personal against you, but the Nationalist Party’s core vote seems to consist of a lot of people like you.

We will have to see if he has the guts to keep his promise as this huge project hasn’t even taken off. Another promise broken perhaps?

This refers to journalists, spokespersons, and others who should have a higher level of intelligence than the average citizen, and it is very apt.

How much worse is the situation concerning the citizen with an average, or below-average, intelligence, who tends to accept blindly a leader who does the thinking for him?

The final scenario will be the distribution of David Casa’s extra votes after being elected.

That will leave three candidates in the running for just one seat.

In all probability they will be Clint Camilleri, Marlene Mizzi and another PN candidate (close battle between Joe Bugeja, Therese Comodini Cachia and Francis Zammit Dimech).

The one with the least number of votes will be eliminated, unless, PN inherits a substantial number of votes from AD, Norman Lowell and the “King”, the PN candidate risks being eliminated and PL will elect yet again two candidates at one go (both without a quota).

Bottom line – it’s a 4-2 end result.

I hope I am wrong.

Or perhaps a woman as leader?

It’s Busuttil who unwittingly brings negativity on his own party rather than on the government’s failures. He seems to repeatedly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

I will again state that I have nothing personal against Dr Busuttil or in favour of any other possible leader. It is you who are blinkered and not seeing the messages the electorate is sending to the PN and its leadership.

Of course Busuttil’s name was literally not on the ballot paper, but he is the leader of the party the eleven candidates are contesting. By your stupid analysis, Busuttil should have in the press conference said: “My name was not on the ballot paper so I have nothing to do with this very disappointing result”. Ridiculous.

Shame on you for not respecting other peoples’ opinions. Tridiex ta ‘European’ ukoll??!! Pff….joker.

[Daphne – Please stop using ‘Pfff’ in almost every one of your comments. This is not a Facebook Timeline and in any case, it is bad manners.]

I think you are misinterpreting the bottom line. I too did not give much importance to the EP election result of 2009, when the PN polled only 40%. It was “normal” for the PN in government to lose EP elections, but win general elections. It happened twice.

This time the situation is different. This should have been the “Yellow Card” to Labour, as Dr Busuttil himself claimed it will be. Instead PN lost a further 3% since the general election a year ago.

[Daphne – You see, this is where we part company. You can’t compare one election with another, because the significant factors are completely different. In 2013, it required a tremendous psychological adjustment for certain cohorts to vote Labour for the first time in a general election. Many of them then went on to suffer severe cognitive dissonance as their expectations of meritocracy and superior performance (in these cohorts, it wouldn’t necessarily be personal favours) were not met. The psyche adjusts to mitigate the discomfort of cognitive dissonance by 1. taking concrete action to reverse that decision or address it directly, or 2. acting to reinforce the original decision to prove to oneself and others that one was correct and that one’s judgement is not, after all, impaired. Option 1. is considerably more difficult than option 2., and yesterday’s result was partly a manifestation of that. The result is the same, yes, but it is the motivation for voting that you have to be looking at, because that shapes how things will be seen over the next few years.]

Overlook the significance of yesterday’s result and PN will be in for a nasty surprise in 4 years time – it will be another landslide victory for Muscat. His cult style lies deep and not fickle as some people think.

[Daphne – Yes, you and I agree 100% on that. I was, in fact, the first person to identify and write about the phenomenon, and to link it to the fact that Maltese society is culturally predisposed to religious movements especially when they don’t come in the guise of a religious movement that is not religious, so to speak. Most Maltese are raised in authoritarian households where there is a predisposition towards conformity with the outward form of religion, if not actual belief in it. This so much predisposes them to the pattern that even when they reject religion and become atheists or non-believers, they respond very positively to any appeal that comes in the form of a religious movement with a central authoritarian figure. One of the reasons why I am completely immune to that kind of thing (and indeed am repelled by it) is because I wasn’t raised in that kind of household at all. The formative years of our upbringing are what shape the electorate in the end. ]

Indeed it has continued to win over people since a year ago. See Malta today polls. There was some percentage points of people who voted PN in 2013 and trust Muscat more than Busuttil.

[Daphne – It was bound to happen. Certain sorts of people are magnetised by overt success. The first social occasion I went to after the 1996 election, everyone I met was a Labour voter and had identified Sant’s amazing powers well ahead of the poll, while Fenech Adami’s time was over. Fortunately, I am a well-brought-up sort of girl, so I didn’t raise the subject the next time I met them all again in 1998 or 1999 – but interestingly, some of them did it again this time. The thing is, besides having quite a long perspective on politics in Malta (relatively speaking, at least), I also have no illusions at all about human nature. It is possibly the only thing I have in common with the prime minister, which is why I am able to recognise it in him.]

Spot on, Daphne.