Today, a good portion of the eligible population will cast their vote in local council elections. In yesterday’s leading article, we spoke of the absurdity of the day of reflection, which bars the media from publishing or broadcasting news items related to the content of the elections.
Today, we speak of another electoral tool which Malta could have introduced in this raft of local council elections. It is a very simple tool, and it simplifies the whole process. The tool we are speaking about is exit polls.
Exit polls are used throughout Europe and most of the rest of the modern world. It essentially involves voting which is registered electronically. You vote, it goes into the system. That system is then crunched down into a mathematical equation and Bob’s your uncle, you have an exit poll indication by the end of polling day.
After the last general election, and in the aftermath of the divorce referendum, this idea was brought up again by a couple of politicians on both sides of the House. The discussion carried on for about two weeks, but it soon fizzled out.
In the year 2012, we are going to the polls. We will not be allowed to use our mobile phones within 100 metres of a polling station – lest we influence someone who might want to vote in a different manner. The fact that you might be trying to juggle work with your duty to vote, or telling the wife or husband what needs to be done in the house while you are out, of course, do not factor into the imagination of the authorities at these times. No, if you are on the phone, then someone is up to no good.
Shops in some areas have to close. Police put up barricades at the beginning of a street where a polling station is located. And then, after all that, we have the ridiculous state of affairs in the counting hall itself.
Armies of party delegates tot up sample votes like salivating dogs, eager to tally up the needed quota so it can be number crunched and a trend analysed. All the while, the country sits glued to its television, with the political stations and the state broadcaster milking the opportunity to raise ratings. All the while, the people are kept watching to see who will win the vote. It’s quite pathetic really. But this is why political parties are so strong in Malta. Such tactics ensure the cultural monopoly that both major parties have in this tiny nation of ours. Things are like this because it suits the politicians. They are also like this because of what happened in the past. But this is 2012. These are local council elections and it could have been an excellent platform to implement exit poll results.
But no. This is Malta, the rest of the world is wrong, and only our politicians and administration know best. We, humble peasants, must sit and wait in the dark.