The Yes camp won, that is indisputable. It won by the slimmest of majorities – 2,200 votes. Many took to social media yesterday to blast the participation rate in the referendum to ban Spring hunting.

But 75% of the electorate turned up to cast their vote. In comparison, only 68% of those eligible to vote in the local council elections did so. This shows that at the very least, the environment is high on the agenda, possibly even shocking the political class into action.

Following the result, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was stern, his demeanour and possibly his attitude towards both hunters and environmentalists (read almost half of Malta on the latter) had changed.

The PM is in a bit of a quandary. The referendum was won on the strength of high turnout in hunting areas, as well as a high ‘yes’ vote in Labour leaning districts. The PM said he did not campaign, but on three occasions said he would be voting yes, particularly in Gozo, which pretty much swayed the referendum result.

The Prime Minister seems very much aware that despite his declarations, just under half of those who cast their vote are adamant that things have to change. This is probably why the PM issued his stern warning to hunters, saying that if ‘substantial’ illegalities take place, he will close the Spring hunting season.

In a sense, it is a win-win situation for the PM. He has secured the eternal gratitude of hunters, but at the same time has placed the onus of responsibility on them. “This is your last chance,” he said on Sunday. If the PM does close the season, he will have scored a political victory on both sides because he will have pleased the hunters and then pleased the environmentalist lobby.

But what does that mean? The structures used to monitor hunters are in disarray and the police ALE section simply cannot cope with the demands of policing that many people with shotguns. Hunters, who are supposed to only shoot four birds during the whole season, declare their own catches. What are ‘substantial’ illegalities anyhow? How is it quantified? BirdLife has already challenged the PM and said that it expects him to close the season if even one illegality is recorded.

The hunters know that they must change their attitude. One would hope that this would start with stopping the sense of entitlement which they seem to have for public land and to accept the fact that people want to walk in the countryside. The bad looks and the intimidation has to stop. We can already see wheels in motion to bring about changes to the referenda law, and one hopes that this does not happen. Whatever the outcome, last weekend was still a great exercise in democracy, which saw people power pushing for change. It will be a matter of time. We are sure that in the future, Malta’s NGOs will come together to work under one banner for t he good of the whole country.