PN’s fading southern star

On Mothers’ Day they voted to have two deputy leaders, but Nationalist Party councillors also took the chance to discuss the most severe of election defeats. After a result that saw the PN trail Labour by more than 36,000 votes, and a nine-seat deficit in Parliament, councillors spoke about the causes. Some offered solutions while others blamed voters for not appreciating the PN’s work in government. But in the lively exchange, three solitary voices sounded a warning about the PN’s collapse in the south. They reiterated a message first spelled out by Mario de Marco when conceding victory to Simon Busuttil in the leadership contest. The south has always been problematic for the PN for social, economic and historical reasons but a breakdown of election figures for the second, third, fourth and fifth districts shows a worsening situation in the past decade. In the March election, the PN gained 28,441 votes in the four districts, winning only four seats from the 20 up for grabs. It managed 30 per cent of the vote. This means that in 10 years since the 2003 election, the PN lost almost 5,000 votes, half its parliamentary seats and saw its voter share drop by eight points. Voter...