According to a survey commissioned by a number of the EU’s political groups, 24.7 % of Maltese citizens are sure that they will not vote in the upcoming European Parliament elections.

If the survey, commissioned last month, proves to be accurate, then it will result in a lower turnout than the 2009 election. In 2009, voter turnout was registered at 78.81 %. If we go back to the previous election – 10 years ago in 2004 – turnout was even higher at 82.39%. If this survey proves to be correct, then this year’s turnout will be 75.3% more than three percentage points lower than the last EP poll.

The same respondents said that 32.5% of them were unhappy with the direction that the European Union has taken in the past five years. Moreover, another salient point is that 72.9% of respondents believe that Malta has lost its sovereignty.

It is a known fact that even in politics-obsessed Malta, voter turnout is slowly but surely decreasing. But when it comes to the national polls, we still always register a very strong showing. People do get out and cast their vote, with turnout always being in the mid to high ninety percent margin. But when it comes to the European elections, and if the survey is correct, we will have witnessed a 7 % turnout drop since 2004. To compound it, the original turnout in the maiden EP election was about 10 percentage points lower than the general election figures.

And the question we have to ask, is, why? There are many factors at play, including the fact that some PL supporters have not yet come round to the idea of being members of the EU, although the Labour party has started to reverse that trend.

Most importantly, perhaps, it is the fact that Maltese citizens in general seem a bit disenfranchised from the EU, especially when it comes down to the issue of immigration. A staggering 81.1 % feel that the views of Maltese citizens are not respected by the EU. 32.5 % said they were unhappy with the direction being taken by the EU and 72.9% said that Malta lost its sovereignty since it joined the EU. Given these findings, it is surprising to see that a relatively high 75-odd % are still choosing to vote.

And that is where the local parties come in. The Labour Party has repeatedly called on its supporters to vote and Joseph Muscat has also called the contest a national one, between him and Simon Busuttil. The reasons are two-fold, one is that the PL wants to shake off its Eurosceptic hangover and secondly, because it boils down to beating the opposition in terms of a majority vote. And that is why people still do get out and vote in the EP elections. Because the parties urge them too. It’s still effective, but if pessimism about the EU continues, then we could witness more and more voter apathy in the years to come.