Thousands of euros have been spent on newspaper adverts, professionally produced videos, numerous billboards, a music video, glossy full colour leaflets distributed door to door and personalised letters posted to women.
The question on everyone’s lips is: where is all this money for the No campaign coming from? Funding for political parties has always been a hot issue and the parties themselves continue to skirt the issue of transparency when it comes to declaring just who is financing their respective campaigns.
In this campaign, for the first time in Malta’s history the opposing sides were not drawn along party lines but rather, along liberal versus conservative ideologies which crossed the political spectrum. You had Nationalists openly declaring they would vote Yes and Labour supporters stating firmly that they would vote No. It is crystal clear, however, that it was the No campaigners who had access to what seem like unlimited funds. It is patently obvious to all that the No camp has been backed by big money, whether from the Church itself or other sources that have an interest in maintaining the status quo.
This has been a battle between the establishment and the emerging liberal class, but it has clearly not been fought on a level playing field. Over the past few weeks as the campaign hit its peak, the onslaught of promotional material and advertising from the No camp has been astounding. In contrast, it was quite evident from the start that the Yes camp simply did not have access to the same kind of funds which they could tap into at a moment’s notice. Even the sheer organisational logistics demonstrated by the No lobby point to a set up which is reminiscent of the kind of PR machinery used during a general election campaign.
It is also worth questioning whether this bombardment of the senses on voters may lead to a backlash. I would say that referendum fatigue had already set in a few weeks ago, with many people complaining that they could not bear to hear any more about the subject. At this point, with just a few days to go, everyone is suffering from divorce exhaustion, and we just want to get it over with.
Today, the last official day of campaigning on the mainstream media, it is to be expected that the lobbying will reach fever pitch. Will this just continue to irk people more? Will those who refused to collect their vote simply reconfirm that they were right to do so? And will those who decide at the last minute to stay home anyway base their decision on the fact that they have had it, as the saying goes, “up to here”?
By Sunday we will know just how effective all these thousands of euros were in bringing out the No vote. On the other hand, one can’t help but wonder why all that money couldn’t have been better spent to alleviate the financial hardships of those with social problems, especially downtrodden women and children – that sector of the population which the No campaigners claim to hold so dear to their heart.