Last Wednesday, Stephen Calleja, The Malta Independent Online Editor, opined his gut feeling about the turnout of voters in the coming general election.  He forecasted that voter turnout will see a sizeable drop in the next general election.  His prediction is of serious concern but not a surprise.  Although we are still months away from the hustle and bustle of an electoral campaign I share his point of view.  Yet, yes, things can change. 

Here, I will attempt to make a recommendation to overcome this hurdle.

The reasons for the envisaged drop in voter turnout are numerous. The long list of cases of corruption which this administration is infested with may encourage a sizeable portion from the electorate to stay at home on election day. Some may take the trouble to queue at the polling stations but then deliberately invalidate their ballot paper with a derogatory comment addressed at the current administration.  

This administration has reached an unusual high level of bullishness which normally creeps in during the second-term in office. Notwithstanding the numerous political gaffes and the long-list of alleged cases of corruption which this administration is contaminated with, the PL is in pole position to win a second term in office. With good reason, this may be the cause for the low turnout of voters in the coming general election.

Let’s have a look at the second term in office of past PL and PN administrations.  

As I was too young to recall Dr George Borg Olivier’s two consecutive terms in Office, I will skip.  The MLP won a second term in office in 1976.  Dom Mintoff, then Prime Minister, evidently, lost control of his Parliamentary Group and was taken hostage by the machos within his party.  In the 1981 general election Mintoff ignored a clear message from the electorate. 

Dr Eddie Fenech Adami, was sworn in Prime Minister in 1987.  He led a fully energised team with whom he rekindled democracy.  Malta was returned onto the proper rails and curtailed ties with red flagged countries.  The PN was returned for the second consecutive term in Office in 1992.  But the PN lost the whole plot during the second term in office and was defeated at the polls in 1996.  

Dr Alfred Sant walked briskly into office. 

In the 1998 snap election the PN was returned in office.  Dr Fenech Adami, well aware of the golden opportunity which fell out of the blues in his lap, came back on the national stage determined to keep his colleagues well within his grasp.  He defrosted Malta’s EU application and led Malta on the path to join the EU.  In 2003 the electorate re-confirmed once again the PN in office to secure Malta’s EU membership.  Shortly after, Dr Lawrence Gonzi, won the PN leadership contest and carried on where Dr Fenech Adami left off.  Dr Gonzi led the PN to win another term in office in 2008 with a whisker but then the PN suffered a heavy electoral defeat in 2013.

It is evidently clear that political parties entrusted with the administration of the land for the second or third consecutive term suffer from a pretentious and conceit predisposition syndrome. Striving to score political points in the quest for power is normal.  What is and should not be acceptable is the number of people used ruthlessly like pawns and other figurines on the chess-board in the process.  

Ask the many loyal, now disappointed PL supporters and others who have been promised a plethora of lies, mostly unattainable during the last general election campaign.  So it should be of no surprise that the number of disillusioned people with politics is growing.   Keeping our fingers-crossed, the disillusioned electorate will move into the floating voters segment, but stop short from falling into the disinterested troop.  That would be equal to a national tragedy.  While the electorate may shift political allegiances, and it is easily understandable, but it would be a thoughtless decision which would permanently scar our society, if a large portion from the electorate decides to abandon ship.   

In the coming general election the electorate should send the current administration to rest for failing miserably on the transparency, accountability and meritocracy promises and allowing corruption to grow across the board.  In the coming general election the electorate should take the lead and break the second-term in office cycle.   

Don't ever be fooled with broken hearts or twisted minds.

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