It has been said that time is a file that wears and makes no noise. It flies over us, leaving no shadow behind and exposes us all to the test of accountability.

In the words of La Bruyere, those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity. But laments are no excuse for indolence or incompetence.

Each general election is, in its own way, a watershed, and the political parties put their propaganda machines into gear to promise a brighter future. They will be aided and abetted by spin doctors, columnists and all the paraphernalia at the disposal of the media. But the electorate, which is “older and wiser”, will not be easily swept off its feet by promises of pots of gold in the far away future.

The electorate, which is “older and wiser”, has its feet on the ground, and has the measure of the present as well as of the past.

It had been promised an “Early Spring” and knows it has been short-changed. It has been over-taxed. Living costs have soared and it has had to put up with the arrogance of power, and to bear the cost of maladministration – all of which eroded purchasing power. Worse still, the worm of corruption seems to have eaten its way into soft areas of the administration, and, as the demons of political polarisation began to reassert themselves, the perception of blatant partisan favouritism began to gain momentum and circulation.

Electoral sovereignty

All of these will be burning issues during the election campaign. More than ever before, the ghosts of the Past, and the hardships of the Present, will be competing with the glitter of the Future, for electoral support. All these issues will be in the boiling pot throughout the campaign. It is sentiment, not mathematics that will give shape to Malta’s future.

The politicians will throw their two pennyworths of ingredients in the pot as the campaign intensifies. But the electorate will decide the final outcome.

The electorate will sway one way or the other as the electioneering winds gain intensity. The sovereign electorate will have the final say, and its verdict will be known after the last decisive vote is counted.

Meanwhile, the pundits will speculate and politicians will throw in their weight to swing the pendulum in their favour.

Potential conflagration

No doubt, some electors will swing under their spell. Floating voters will float on their own terms.

There will be those who have been jilted, or otherwise aggrieved, by the ruling party, those who have been severely set back, and businessmen who succumbed under the yoke of taxation who may feel they have a score to settle.

Thousands of citizens have suffered the after effects of over development. Those who participated in street protests against the high-handedness of MEPA at Qui-si-Sana, Fort Cambridge and Pender Place, for example, must be nursing their grudges. And environmentalists, outraged by issues involving the future of Ramla l-Hamra and Ta Cenc in Gozo – to name but two – are still actively on the warpath.

It is the sum total of their burning issues that has the potential of starting an electoral conflagration.

Such a conflagration would be difficult to control, if it assumes major proportions.

No amount of fire fighting, and no promises of a bright future in 2015, or thereabout, will wash if an electoral majority will buy the perception that the Emperor has no clothes.

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