We ought to be truly proud of our voting system; so noble in aim. We apply the single transferable voting (STV) system to elect our legislatures. Thomas Hare, one early pioneer in this field, once put it as: “... making the exercise of the suffrage a step in the elevation of the individual character, whether it be found in the majority or in the minority”. John Stuart Mili, in his Considerations on Representative Government holds that: “Of all modes in which a national representation can possibly be constituted, this one affords the best security for the intellectual qualifications desirable in the representatives. At present, the only persons who can get elected are those who possess local influence, or make their way by lavish expenditure...”
Questions come to mind: How do these noble aspirations translate for our electorate? What are we to make of the performances in poor taste, repeatedly and quite unashamedly, held in our House? How did we start so well, only to be landed now with all this bad show?
In one corner, we get the black-blue, at one other time, holy-picture Munchers, skilful at the cloak and dagger; counter-balanced, in the other corner, by the red [not Indian] ‘working-class’ super-heroes wielding axes. It seems to most that both hail from the same combination of mutant genes which produce bigots. They still address the present, in terms and colours of 50 or 60 years ago! In the 2013 election, these collectively mesmerized 91 per cent of the electorate. A slight, but vital, improvement since St Paul’s time! The current level of discussion in our forum is at best mediocre and pathetic.
The not all-too-new reaction, by the PLPN conglomerate to the emergence of other trends of political thought, stinks of all the rot, conspiracy and dirty trickery applied by every cowardly Establishment since time immemorial whenever they realized that they stand on shaky ground, with a fair section of the populace up in arms for being repeatedly let down and betrayed. I suspect that the STV, as it is applied over 13 electoral districts, is basically unfair; favouring the established bi-party system, it leaves little or no hope for newcomers who might have a valid contribution to make.
In past times, when computers were not yet invented, the STV was a lengthy and labour-intensive process requiring sub-division to a fairly large degree. However, today, all this is past, and we can easily accommodate three electoral districts with one-third of the voting population in each. One might call these multi-seat constituencies: South, North and Central; each to fill 23 seats in Parliament. By so doing, the quota will still stand in the present range of 5,000 votes per seat. This is not dissimilar to Alternattiva Demokratika’s last performance. Which, had this been the case; they could easily have been represented in the present legislature. Larger constituencies will favour reducing losses in edge-effect and dispersion. Better concentration of resources will make for impact and should drastically improve the chances for these emerging parties. It’s in the interest of all nascent political movements to bring about the desired changes which will finally prove beneficial to the whole country. Having something valid to say, clearly and without hesitation, besides playing one’s cards right are indispensable factors to ensure victory.
Unless we live up to the challenge, considering the depressing situation we nowhave, we’re truly risking (1) an ever increasing loss of faith in the Institution, (2) decreased faith in our ability to improve matters quietly for ourselves, and, (3) an apathy, especially in our young people, which can only result in the further weakening of our infant democracy.
Repressing the people’s expression is not on! Whereas a truer representation, where every voice has a space to express itself, undoubtedly is! The civic duty to participate in an election process with hope of true change being the scope of the exercise!
Ramon Borg-Bartolo
Sliema