From Mr M. Scerri

One of Alfred Sant’s biggest blunders is without doubt his post-referendum statement outside the counting hall in Ta’ Qali. On that day he insisted that since the number of people who voted no to the EU, plus all those who didn’t vote, plus all those who invalidated their vote, was greater than the number of people who voted yes, then the electorate had chosen “partnership” over EU membership. There was common consensus that Alfred Sant’s statement was so much twaddle.

Now, five years later, the Nationalist Party has forgotten the outrage that this declaration had caused, and has decided to regurgitate Sant’s logic. The gonzipn and all its apologetic columnists in the English language press, are trying to convince the electorate that unless they vote PN, irrespective of whether they vote for Labour, Alternattiva or Azzjoni Nazzjonali or anybody else, or not vote at all, then they would be voting in Alfred Sant as Prime Minister. This Santian logic was fallacious in 2003 and is still fallacious in 2008. The fact that the Nationalists have resorted to this tactic doesn’t make it any less fallacious.

In a democratic system, you elect a government and after five years you decide whether or not you are pleased with what the government has done. Subsequently you either show your approval by voting in the same government or vote for somebody else if you think that the government has betrayed your aspirations. Anything short of this would drive us closer to the Libyan, the Chinese or the Korean way of doing politics. And yet it seems that there is a concerted movement to deprive the Maltese electorate of their most basic right, the right to tell the Nationalist government, “hey, you don’t impress me – I want to vote for somebody who does”. In order to do this there is the usual fall back on the strategy of fear.

The Nationalist strategy is clear. The PN knows that a huge part of the electorate (i.e. everyone with the exception of their core voters) is more than disappointed with how the PN has dealt with a number of issues such as over development like in Sliema, hunting in spring, ministers accused of corruption, nepotism and clientelism in public appointments and so on, but still they pretend that everyone who is not a core Labour voter should be held hostage to their scaremongering tactics.

The electorate should keep in mind that voting only for the same party that has disappointed them means that they approve of what that party did throughout the last five years. By voting for it again they are giving it carte blanche to do more of the same throughout the coming five years. What guarantee is there that a good part of the new government will not be made up of some old faces? Are all the newcomers going to be given a ministerial post? Voters should realise that if they do what they have always done, they’ll get what they’ve always gotten i.e. more environmental mess, disrespect, trampling over their rights, nepotism, clientelism, no meritocracy, arrogance…

The Maltese political culture can only change if we stop electing single party governments and move towards coalition governments. Only then will we move on to a more civilised way of doing politics, consonant with the way it is done in the rest of Europe. 2500 voters in any district can cause a huge change to Maltese politics by electing Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party to Parliament.

Mark Scerri

ATTARD