Political tribalism in this country is not something to be proud of.

Too long have people declared themselves red or blue, despite whether they actually agree with their party’s stances.

Malta has a tendency to treat its political parties like football clubs, with a support till we die attitude.

PN MP Claudio Grech made a statement during an interview with this newsroom, that political tribalism has set this country back, and it’s time to completely shake it off.

 “The way in which politics is done in this country, traditionally, deems what one party does as always good and what the other party does as always bad,” Grech said. He is absolutely right, and this is not healthy for a democracy.

With people blindly following a political party, it becomes that much harder to oust any bad apples.

It also means that a political debate about an issue does not hold as much weight as it perhaps should, as there would be a section of the population who will not care to really listen to the opposing side’s arguments.

As such, you can end up in a situation where business has more of a sway on policy than the people themselves for instance.

Thankfully there is now a section of voters who would sway either way that is large enough to make a difference, and the country has improved in this regard since the 80s and 90s. But still, there are many diehards who will never even consider voting for the opposing party, no matter what their party does.

If MPs are starting to realise that this is a problem, then that is a step in the right direction.

While one could easily blame the two-party system for this issue, it is not all that is to blame.

Education is key to toppling this situation. The diehard mentality can often be tied to who a person’s parents voted for. What needs to be done is for Malta’s education system to really push forward independent thought processes on this issue. Perhaps lessons on democracy and political systems should be introduced where youths are taught to analyse political situations in the country and debate them among themselves.

Without hearing both sides of a debate and weighing the pros and cons, an informed decision can never be made.

16 year-olds can now vote, and we should do all we can to make sure that their votes are based on informed decisions.

In order for the idea of political partisanship to be shed, both main political parties would need to work together to do so. Such a move, sadly, seems highly unlikely.