No matter how much they say that they lost by a whisker, the SHout campaign must look within to discover the reasons why spring hunting will continue for years to come. Losing by one vote is as big a defeat as one with 10,000 votes.

Blaming others is simply an immature way of seeing things, especially when the campaign they embarked upon was too negative. It was a scare-mongering campaign based on the bad side of hunting – the few hunters who abuse – rather than focusing on the sustainability issues. Birds should have been central to their issue, but they never featured.

In my personal opinion, their claims that the position taken by Joseph Muscat and Simon Busuttil put them at a disadvantage with the electorate do not hold water.

Four years ago, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was also against divorce and made his position known publicly. The Church pumped thousands of euros into the campaign and used all its pulpits to try to persuade the people to vote no. Yet, in spite of such great opposition from state and church, the “yes” vote prevailed, against all the odds. The pro-divorce campaign started in arrears but ended up winning.

Conversely, the anti-hunting lobbyists started with a solid advantage but ended up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Their first mistake was putting Saviour Balzan at the forefront. His past crusades, many of which verged on being personal vendettas, pushed people away from the “no” camp. Many of those who stayed at home would have voted against spring hunting if Saviour was not part of the campaign, but they could not bring themselves to vote in favour of something he endorsed.

The second mistake was putting Moira Delia right next to him. Those who thought that she would have attracted “no” voters should have known that much more than a TV personality was needed to help the cause. She turned out to be less popular than she thought she was, and when she spoke she was never convincing.

Of the triumvirate who led the campaign, only Mark Sultana came across as someone credible and trustworthy, someone who really believed in the cause and knew the subject, and someone who carried no previous baggage or who was looking for publicity. But his presence was overshadowed by the other two, in spite of subtle and not-so-subtle hints that they should have kept a lower profile and given him more space.

The third mistake was that the list of people who became the group’s ambassadors was made up of people who are known well in their circles, but who are not national figures.  Their impact on the campaign was small, if there was any.

In a nutshell, the public in general never identified themselves with the people leading the SHout campaign and their apostles.

Most of all, however, the arguments made by the Shout representatives all throughout the campaign were not reassuring against those who thought that fireworks and other hobbies would be next on the list after hunting. The campaign started off soundly but fizzled out in the second week, which meant that the last three weeks of the SHout campaign were lost in repetitions, by which time people in general had simply lost interest. They were unable to bring out the voters who had decided that they had no interest in the issue.

On the contrary, the hunters showed an impeccable approach in their campaign. All the people who were, in some way or another, involved in past controversies were kept away from the public eye and, instead, they used an intelligent and articulate lawyer to put forward their arguments. Kathleen Grima was determined, focused and never hysteric in her approach, and her attitude won many votes for the hunting lobby. The plastering of Saviour’s face on billboards also helped their cause.

Hunters and all their gear were kept out of the campaign and only appeared, together with the FKNK personalities, when the vote was over and they could start celebrating.

Contrary to Shout, the hunters’ campaign finished in crescendo and, in spite of surveys – including the usually reliable MaltaToday’s – showing a strong deficit, they never lost heart. In the end, MaltaToday’s surveys only helped to bring out the “yes” vote, rather than consolidate the “no” vote.