From Mr J. Camilleri

I write in the light of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s defeatist article (TMIS, 27 January), which maintains that disgruntled Nationalists, floating voters and so on should vote for the PN simply because voting for Alternattiva Demokratika will result in Alfred Sant getting elected.

Frankly I will not vote for someone whose policies I disagree with just because of these scaremongering spins. Daphne argues that voting for Alternattiva (AD) instead of the PN will elect the Labour Party to power. What she should realise is that voting for the PN will re-elect the Curia and the Catholic fundamentalists to power. In essence, the current PN does not represent liberal voters any longer and this can be reflected in voting (and non- voting) trends going back to 2003.

Daphne should ask herself what a Gonzi administration would bring to the table over the next five years. I will tell her. It will be a continuation of the disintegration of the secular rights of the individual, with legislation passed and amended according to the diktat of the Church. This diktat covers the infamous Family Law that includes the denial of much needed divorce, not to mention Ministers flirting with constitutional amendments or even bio-ethic committees run by Opus Dei members.

Daphne has written a number of times about this wave of fundamentalism, so it’s strangely inconsistent that she forgets this just on the eve of a general election. With apologies to Bill Clinton, Daphne and others at tal-Pieta have not realised “its not just about the economy stupid!”

Furthermore, I am no mathematician but her sums about AD not being able to elect Members of Parliament, in light of the MRP elections of 2003, are incorrect to say the least. In that election AD obtained 22,000 first count votes. An analysis of that vote by district would have translated into at least three seats for AD in the General Election. That result was possible because that time there were enough courageous people who dared vote for change rather than for more of the same.

I will be voting AD because I still love my country and dare to believe in change ? in spite of those who advocate losing all hope. If sufficient others have the courage to vote in the same way the country will really experience a new dawn.

Joseph Camilleri

SLIEMA