Most of the people who will be voting for the first time in the coming election were not even born when the Nationalist Party took over the reins of the country in 1987. Today, they are at University or have found their first job, and cannot imagine what the country was like in the early 1980s.

The people who will be voting for the first time in the coming election were also perhaps too young to remember the days of Alfred Sant as Prime Minister between 1996 and 1998. If they do remember, they were too young to understand what was going on and, again, they cannot really grasp the situation.

The fact that they are still too young to remember the past enables them to have a more objective view of the present, and this will allow them to judge what is being offered by the political parties without being influenced what happened so long ago.

For them, voting for the first time will permit them to participate in what is after all an exercise in democracy – electing a government that will be leading the country for the first five years.

These new voters will play a big part in the outcome of the election. In Malta, elections are determined by a few thousand voters – the largest ever victories were of 13,000 or thereabouts – and therefore the impact of 17,000 or so new voters will be great.

They did not vote in the hard-fought referendum on EU membership in 2003, but the decision taken back then means that the country has a stronger foothold and is in a position to offer them many opportunities to further their studies or, if they so prefer, to find a job in the one of the fast-growing sectors, such as IT. The decision taken five years ago also means that the European doors have been opened to them, and many have in fact taken the chance and found a job outside Malta.

Young people are unpredictable, and likewise is the way they will be choosing to vote. Many will be influenced by the way their family has voted for decades, the way their parents see politics and the way they have been brought up. Generally speaking, young people will be voting for the party that their parents vote for, although there are instances where young people do not follow the family tradition.

Before casting their preferences, young people have to understand that their vote will decide their country’s future for the next five years, a period of time which is crucial for their career and their building of a family. They must weight the pros and cons of voting for one party and not another. They must try to understand which of the political parties offers them a better future.

The Nationalist Party still believes it is the most dynamic party and that it should be given the chance to continue building on what it has managed to achieve over the past years. After all, it was the PN that led Malta through to EU membership and the benefits derived therefrom.

The Malta Labour Party is portraying itself as completely different from the one that led the country more than two decades ago, and it is also saying that it can plan a better future for Malta if it is given a second chance after the first that failed 10 years ago.

Then there are the smaller parties – Alternattiva Demokratika and Azzjoni Nazzjonali – who would like to have a voice in Parliament to break the duopoly which, they say, is causing more harm than good for the country. The new voters could also opt not to exercise their right, if they feel comfortable or if they simply do not care.

Whatever the case, the 17,000 new voters will have their big chance to play their part and determine who will lead Malta in the future. Their future, that is.