By the way, an interesting article on Daphne’s blog (yes, sometimes you do manage to find one if you dig deep enough into this realm of odious

diarrhoea) is that the uncollected votes were not mainly traditional PN votes but only 52 per cent of them were, according to an ID card number analysis. I don’t know from where Daphne got this information but, in

retrospect, she seemed to have very reliable contacts with the counting hall, better than Maltatoday’s or anybody else’s. If this is true, this is a very interesting and revealing factor for the following reasons.

Gold Roast

Am I the only who thinks it is unnerving that the Nationalist Party knows how we vote simply through analysing our ID card number?

Josanne

It all goes with having blue DNA, Josanne. Us mere mortals wouldn’t understand.

Kenneth Cassar

Yes that is interesting. I imagine that now the non-voters have been duly identified by the Party espionage machine, all that remains is to sift through their garbage and read through their private post in search of stuff to blackmail them with ahead of the next election. At a stretch, they can always send round the DNA police to teach them a good lesson or two. How revolting.

Raphael

Josanne, it’s not just the Nationalist party but also Labour. I know someone who used to work in the MLP headquarters, and they have a database where you could search ANY eligible voter and they will have info about him like “Nationalist”, “presumed Nationalist”, “Labourite” or “presumed Labourite”. I asked her to search for my father’s name in the database and see what it says about his political leaning and well, they got it pretty much right. PN, with their electronic vote-counting methods, probably have something just as sophisticated if not more. Yes, it feel like we’re living in some Orwellian reality doesn’t it, hehe. ...

Just to give you an example: my father never was outspoken about his political leanings. The only thing that could give him away was a political newspaper he used to buy on a Sunday. That’s enough for your local stationery to know your political leanings, or even another regular customer who sees you buy that newspaper. But this is Malta not London. In London, if you walked in the street wearing a bunny outfit nobody would give a toss. In Malta, people are scrutinising every single detail of your behaviour, your tastes, your preferences, anything ...

Gold Roast

I have never for a moment doubted that both parties use extensive data bases on people’s voting patterns to determine their chances at the polls... all I’m saying is that this kind of “mind control” gives me the creeps...this must be the only country where people feel absolutely no embarrassment at bluntly asking you “inti x’int?” and then sticking a political identity label on your forehead which you are supposed to wear for the rest of your life. In other countries it is quote common for voters to switch allegiances from one election to another, and no one would dare call them a traitor or disloyal or ungrateful or selfish or immature or the even worse adjectives I’ve seen bandied about... to this, all I can say is “tridx ma tindahhalx!!”

While yes, most people come from a “traditional” Nationalist or Labour family, there are also those who come from families where because of marriage with “the others” (oooh!! how scary) or simply through simply changing their minds (!) their political beliefs are not set in stone. They are open to new ideas, and if the party they previously supported has screwed up, they have absolutely no problem with saying so. Where Malta has not matured politically is that you still get people who, come election time, will defend “their” party until they are blue in the face, tying themselves up in knots to justify the unjustifiable. In this sense, this election has reminded me vividly of the Mintoff years where, if you dared to criticise Dom you were labelled a traitor to the “cause”...the physical violence may be gone but the relentless psychological battering was there all the same.

Josanne

Josanne what can I say ... I agree 100% with everything you said. Loyalty to Maltese political parties, in at least 80% of the country, is no different from loyalty to a favourite football team or a kazin tal-banda. If you criticise Gonzi and PN, you are a Labourist or AD. If you refuse to vote, you are a coward and you should be ashamed of yourself. Labelling, labelling, labelling. We live in a country where the majority cannot perceive free-thinking. I don’t think I need to advertise the blog where such nauseating labelling, finger-pointing and accusations are plentiful. As for myself, I can say that I can be either a conservative, a socialist, a green or a liberal, depending on the various aspects of my point of view. But go explain an Antoine Vella that ... it would probably be easier selling a fillet steak to a Hindu. These same people are probably keeping their fingers crossed that MLP chooses a crappy leader so that PN will remain perennially in government. Who cares about a decent five years of government ... carcading and flag-waving every five years is a bigger priority isn’t it?

Gold Roast

(j’accuse.wordpress.com)