For many people, purple is not a lovely colour.

For one thing, living in a predominantly Catholic country, purple represents sorrow and mourning, as it is often associated with Lent, although the liturgical colour is more properly called violet. The colour is therefore linked with penance and forgiveness.

Purple is also a colour that is considered unlucky in many countries, including, for example, nearby Italy. You would never see an Italian actress wearing purple on the night when a film in which she is a protagonist is screened for the first time.

In politics, more specifically in the United States, a purple state is one where there is a balance between Republicans, normally symbolised by red, and Democrats, who prefer blue.

Well, you can say the same thing about Malta too. The only difference is that the purple part of our country is spreading fast and the shades of blue and red are becoming weaker as a result.

There was a time when Malta was divided into two – just red or blue. Of course, the red represents the Malta Labour Party and the blue is the colour of the Nationalist Party.

The so-called “floating voters” – the purple party – were a relatively small group of people who shifted allegiance and were ultimately the ones who changed the government. Theirs was an important role because, ultimately, they were the ones who made the difference.

Today, fewer people are ready to believe whatever is thrown at them by the two major political parties. The number of diehard Nationalists and diehard Labourites is steadily on the decrease and, although no statistics are available and there is no scientific proof of this, it is safe to say that the “purple party” is gaining ground. Some would say that it is perhaps the biggest party.

There is no government that does everything right, and there is no opposition that is always justified in its criticism. Today, people are intelligent enough to analyse any given situation for themselves, discard the pompous propaganda that either end tries to feed them, and form their own opinion.

All this happens in spite of the two political parties’ own media machines. The Nationalist media wants to make us believe that everything is going well and that the country is facing no difficulties at all. On the other hand, it is all black for the Labour media and there is no light at the end of the tunnel, unless Labour is elected to government the next time around.

And this wraps up the whole issue. Because both political parties, and the media that supports them, have failed to realise that Malta has moved on and it is ridiculous, not to say insulting, that they continue to act as if the people of Malta are so ignorant that they accept what they are told without asking questions.

In so doing, the political parties and their media are catering solely for the diehards and ignoring the growing “purple party” – those who form an opinion on the issue and not who is proposing it; those who are able to analyse the pros and cons before taking sides; those who are capable of reading between the lines and do not simply accept everything at face value.

Some would say that this is, after all, politics and that the two parties and their media balance each other out. This might be true in a way, but at the same time the “purple party” is fed up of seeing Malta covered in gold if they switch on to NET TV, and in a dark, endless dungeon if they flip to One TV, just to give a simple example.

Political parties should learn to respect the people they are representing by telling it as it is, and not by trying to score electoral points at every opportunity. This just reduces their credibility and leads to own goals.

And the “purple party” is intelligent enough to notice.