It has been said and not once, that we have just gone through an election campaign that was montonous and dull, lacking the excitement that one expects when crucial political choices need to be made. True, it was a quiet campaign, but what’s wrong with this?  I can hardly accept that the excitement in past elections that I well remember... when violence could easily flare up for little reason... was a good thing. It did not benefit at all the political parties and the people as a whole, even less the promotion of democracy.

What I disliked this time round, was the fact that because of the opinion polls which were rolling all the time, much of the interest that should have been attached to the political arguments raised by the different sides was simply dissipated. For if everything has already been “decided”, according to the results of the opinion surveys, the claims and arguments being made would simply not manage to change the convictions of anybody.

Even so, I still believe that this time the election campaign experience has been better. It’s like what is said about how lucky is that country which has no need for heroes. Equally, blessed is that democracy which in its practice, can do without election campaigns that are conducted in an atmosphere of deep tension.

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FREEDOM DAY AND THE OUTSIDERS

What I’m writing now should in no way be understood as some drive against freedom of expression, or against whoever has settled in Malta and starts to “criticise us”, or as a wish for him/her to be boycotted and to be just ignored.

Even so, I too have the right to criticise.

I get irritated by the views expressed in writing by some foreign settlers, Brits mostly, who (in my view) quite arrogantly and in fact without any real knowledge of how Maltese society functions, seek to project in a completely false light, the real achievements of Maltese politics. What’s worse, is how some Maltese readers seem to delight reading these outpourings.

For instance, a certain British ex-journalist decided to regale us with his views regarding how Malta achieved Freedom Day. He has every right to hold and pronounce his views. But that they are completely distorted and factually incorrect,  I know from experience.

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ABSTENTIONS

If my sums sum up, in this month’s elections, 51,500 voters did not pick up their vote out of a total of 355,075 registered voters. Then, there were some 8,227 whose vote was counted as invalid. It is not possible to determine whether they did so on purpose, but it is clear that quite a number of them knew what they were doing. In all, these voters account for 16.8 peercent of the total electorate. That was a substantial increase on the percentages recorded in the 2017 election.

Obviously, when contrasted with European election results such figures appear to be very small, not to say minute. But in the case of Malta, I think they have significance.

It is true that abstentionism seems to have affected the PN more than it did the PL. But if this becomes a way by which to express one’s political belief, then chances are that it could take root and spread.

Is this good? Is it a bad thing? What can we conclude about it? Personally I would prefer that voters choose an option that makes a clear statement rather than “abstain”.