Across the length and breadth of Malta, there has been a marked rise in temperature that has nothing to do with the season. The electorate is approaching the run-in to the next general elections.

This is no time to stand and stare. It is a time to think.

In the life of any democracy, there is no time more vital than the moment of truth when the destiny of a nation is entrusted to the choice of a free electorate.

In the democratic equation, the operative words are ‘choice’ and ‘free’.

An election presumes that the voters have a choice – a minimum of two alternatives, but the choice could be even wider. Pluralism is basic to choice. It is, in fact, a foundation on which freedom is built. Unlike previous elections, the next general election will be fought in special circumstances. The EU issue will not predominate as it did until the last general election.

As from now, electors will be hearing a cacophony of voices. They will be distracted by voices they never heard before, coming from a generation of young candidates.

They will be subjected to appeals coming from politicians who are no more than burned-out cases and who will try to humour their constituents with surprising largesse.

And there will be insidious arguments from others who want to make their little world safe for hypocrisy.

Basic issues

The propaganda crescendo and the electoral razzmatazz should not be allowed to confuse the basic issues at the moment of choice.

In the years that have passed, the main political parties drew up elaborate political programmes, meant to conjure attractive images. It is up to the electorate to assess how many of these promises have been honoured in the breach.

It is the actual performance in office that must accurately be assessed. By the measure of that assessment, politicians must now be entrusted (or otherwise) with responsibility for Malta’s governance.

The Nationalist Party in office knows that public opinion is rooted for change. On its part, the opposition Labour Party has to persuade the electorate that it is capable of delivering the goods if it were to be entrusted with the burden of office.

Above all, both parties have to persuade the electorate that, given a clear mandate, they will be capable of addressing the problems facing Malta now and in the immediate future.

These problems are economic, political and social. They call for a modern approach, distinctly removed from traditional formulae that have been tried and found wanting. That is why a new style of government is of the essence.

Pressing question

The electorate wants an answer to the most pressing question: Why recurrent expenditure has been deliberately and consistently allowed to outpace revenue, leading to a situation where, in the words of a former Minister of Finance, “we are borrowing money in order to eat”.

Since then, an exhausted government has been trying, under duress from the EU, to make good for its excesses, by imposing further tax burdens on the overtaxed economy, with little regard to the norms of social justice. Nevertheless, it is still running into debt and is seemingly unable to inject new vigour into the ailing economy.

Its plight is compounded by its arrogance and the air it assumes when its imposes its will in defiance of public opinion, as it has done when it recently decided, out of the blue, to open the development zone. This stands out in marked contrast to the inclusiveness and openness to civil society which has been a feature of MLP political strategy. The contrast will be the main electoral consideration come the general elections.

Politicians often wear the mask of rectitude over the sneer of contempt. They are quick to point their finger at the tip of the iceberg protruding out of the water – but they show no active concern about the iceberg itself.

They have known for years that the government was living beyond its means and that the bureaucracy has been hopelessly inefficient in collecting revenue due of government and in enforcing the law.

It is the electorate that is now facing the music as the economy stagnates and the tax burden takes its toll.

Malta has reached the point of no return. Success propaganda, claiming that everything is going well, when things are going badly, does not wash.

Byzantine politics

For many years, small-time politicians have been caught in the roulette of parish-pump politics and have reveled in the practice of peculiarly Byzantine intramural politics.

Over time, they did not add much clarity to the Babel of voices – and the foam they produced has proved to be no substitute for ordered thought.

The electorate bore the heat and is now raising questions. The leading question is whether a new spirit of pragmatism and a national will for survival will lead to progress.

The answer is: Maybe

Time will tell. All the indications are that an ‘older and wiser’ electorate is straining at the leash and is determined to make its presence felt.

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