The last four weeks of election campaigning have not served to inform the voting public about the political vision each of the political parties is presenting. Instead, the media of the two large parties have fuelled a puerile debate on a half-baked education proposal, as well instigating an endless onslaught from both sides on which of the two parties is intent on reducing pay entitlement on overtime hours. I never remember politics being so shallow. I can guarantee that none of the two parties will dare remove the entitlement to additional pay on overtime hours, because if they do they would be condemned to decades in opposition. Why has so much time been wasted on discussing petty politics?

The collateral damage of all this nonsense has been the failure to campaign about the real challenges this country is facing – the environment, transport, democracy, accountability, health care and pensions, just to name a few. In the last week of the campaign you can be sure that Labour and PN will be accusing each other of wanting to introduce payments for healthcare. In the meantime little will be said about the brain drain in the medical profession and the miserable state of primary care.

Another feature of this campaign is the obscene level of fear mongering. We were told that one party would pull Malta out of the EU, and that every MP of the other party is corrupt. Who believes such exaggerations, apart from party fanatics? “Independent” columnists and spoof writers (on both the written media and the Internet) have waged the most vitriolic fear campaign against Alternattiva Demokratika. Why? Because we indicated our willingness to participate in a coalition government after 8 March. Every sort of excuse and accusation was levelled at the Greens. They said a coalition was impossible, then improbable, thereafter unlikely. The Prime Minister tried to dismiss the idea by saying that the Greens had already decided on a coalition with Labour. What rubbish! We even had a PN guru write to a leading newspaper saying that the PN would prefer the Opposition benches to a coalition. Was he attempting to reassure blue voters?

One question remains. Why has there been so much reluctance to form a coalition? Whose interest is being protected by such vicious defence of the status quo? I don’t have a specific answer, but I suspect that it is the interest of the people financing the two large parties. They do not want to see Alternattiva Demokratika break the political glass ceiling, because they are equally happy with a blue government or a red one – the important thing is for the Greens not to get in. They probably know, that if the people “Vote Harry”, they (the financiers) must “Get ready” for a change in the way things happen in this country. With the Greens in government, the financing of political parties will be reformed. No politician will be able to wave thousands of liri on TV again without declaring the source of that money. People who report corruption or maladministration will become our national heroes; they will not become the targets of the party media. Ministers will no longer be able to hide reports from public scrutiny. Meritocracy will become the benchmark for filling in positions, not party loyalty. The best people, not the apologists, will run our public corporations and institutions.

The environment in general, and MEPA in particular, will undergo a green reform, not a blue or red whitewash. Public transport will become a public asset, not a national embarrassment. We will have a re-think on maternity leave so that we, the country that likes to brag to kingdom come about its family values, stop forcing mothers back to work after 14 miserably-short weeks of maternity leave – we should aim for six months leave, the extension to be state-funded. With the Greens in government, a reform in the rent laws will happen – not one soul will be homeless, certainly not with 53,000 vacant properties on the market. While the reform is being drafted, landlords should receive compensation, not offered insulting tax cuts on their peppercorn rents.

A coalition may be a political necessity after next Saturday. There is nothing to fear. This will be the start of the really new way of doing politics. The Greens promise to be loyal to the coalition, and loyal to the people. We are ready. Those who make their living feeding off a one-party government are not – tough. All those of you ready for the change are invited to give us their first preference vote. Those excited about the change but still uncertain can give us a second, third or any other preference. Those who are still intent on not voting might want to reconsider. Those who do not give us a preference vote still have our respect. Ultimately, the only thing that counts is the will of the people. Our wish is that you vote in peace.

Edward Fenech is a candidate of Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party in the 1st and 6th districts.