The votes have been cast, and along with them the die has also been cast. Sometime this morning the country is expected to have news of which way the referendum pendulum has swung.  Shotguns will either be readied for an opening of yet another spring hunting season on Tuesday, or they will remain stored away until autumn.

This newspaper, along with the rest of the country’s independent media, has taken an unfaltering stance against the continuation of spring hunting, for reasons that we have all made abundantly clear over the course of not only the referendum campaign, but for years on end now. Quite frankly, we are all blue in the face by now and as such we will not be repeating those arguments again.

Compared to the country’s last two referendums, on EU accession and the introduction of divorce, the spring hunting referendum campaign has been somewhat lacklustre. The main reason for that is that the issue at hand, for one reason or another, does not touch everyone on some level.  Hunters have long since made up their mind, as have conservationists.  Those who are neither here nor there don’t appear to really have much of an opinion on the matter and, sadly, whatever decision they reached yesterday as they pulled open the curtains of their polling booths would have been a frivolous one at best.  All we can hope for is that that their decisions were not based on alleged intimidation and last minute pressure being applied by pro-hunting activists outside polling booths.

Reports in the media yesterday somehow do not bode well for a smooth removal of the spring hunting season should the referendum dictate as much, nor does the fact that the police have deemed it fit to place certain leading exponents of the No vote under 24-hour protection.

Moreover, the fact that some people are desperate enough to break the day of reflection law in close proximity to polling booths, as witnessed by so many people yesterday, including this editorialist at his own polling station, could spell trouble in the days to come should their last ditch efforts be proved to have been in vain.

Just what that decision was will be known sometime this morning.  At the time of writing it was very much evident that a 50 per cent turnout will have been reached, ensuring the validity of the referendum. 

At any rate and whatever the result, this long-festering sore under the nation’s skin will hopefully have been salved, at least temporarily.  Malta’s hunting fraternity and the conservationist coalition will lay down their arms for the time being but whatever the outcome, there will certainly be more in store.

Should the ‘Yes’ camp emerge victorious, those against spring hunting will have two years in which to contemplate their course of action – i.e. on whether to pursue another referendum or not.  But should the No vote have won the day yesterday, it is hoped that the disappointment among Malta’s hunting community will be tempered.

Should the spring season be opened on Tuesday, the Prime Minister will be held to his word that the government will come down hard on anyone who breaks the law.  Should this come to pass, at least the country will at long last have the zero tolerance to illegal hunting that has been needed for so many years now. 

While it is true that the previous administration had introduced stiff fines for breaches of hunting laws and while it is also true that the current government has exponentially increased the penalties associated with illegal hunting, the country has been severely lacking in the all out enforcement of those laws. 

Should the season be opened on Tuesday, the government needs to not only come down hard on illegalities, but it will also need to increase surveillance to all new levels lest, as the No camp has warned, hunters will be looking forward to having a field day this spring.

Now should the No vote win the day, we would expect hunting associations to stand firm despite their disappointment and issue a decree to all members to not even think about protesting in any way shape or form, or be expelled from their respective organisations.

But with the Prime Minister having endorsed the hunters’ position not only in this campaign but time and time again as each Maltese government has since the country joined the EU, and given the politics attached to hunters’ votes, it would not be inconceivable that the government would throw some kind of sweetener their way, perhaps by promising a longer autumn season, a higher bag limit, or possibly even longer hunting hours. This should certainly not be the course the government should follow, but that will remain to be seen.

Whatever the referendum’s result, let us have good winners as well as good losers.