The voter comes into his own at election time. He has one vote. It is crucial to those competing for power. Every party wants his one vote. Each candidate in his constituency wants his number one preference. It is a time for the voter to appreciate his power, to ponder on the implications of how he chooses to wield it, and to whom to lend it for the next five years. In the bedlam of the parties chasing the voter to persuade them to transfuse his power to them, it is easy to forget what the power of one means.
It is a concept that is not to be confused with egoism or egotism. It has been expressed in the example of great individuals who have concentrated on a single idea, like Henry Ford and his motorcar, in great individuals who are themselves an example to so many others, like Nelson Mandela. It has inspired moving, soul-reaching poems, and great literary works, like the splendid novel of the same name by Bryce Courtnay. Yet, it is a concept that is not made clear enough to voters.
Instead, they are enticed into pens made for partisan herds to lose within them as well as their individuality, the power of one itself. The power within each one of us to make a difference. To help bring about lasting change. In entrepreneurial terms, an individual brings change through his vision and courage, through his mix of abilities and single-mindedness. Henry Ford and Bill Gates, (on our own pitch) Joe Gasan, Spiru Mizzi, Tumas Fenech and a few others through time are clear examples. In electoral terms, any individual has the power of one.
The vote of each member of a society has equal weight and value to the vote of others. There is an attendant fact to that reality. One's vote can only have power if it is joined with enough others to make a majority. While each vote counts, it is the majority that decides democratically. A majority is not always easily recognised. Our electoral system retains an in-built wastage of votes (because of the one-sixth quota required to elect one of five candidates, leaving a sixth of the valid votes unutilised), as well as an element of discrepancy between the sizes of the 13 electoral districts.
At least, amendments to the Constitution enacted in 1987 and 1996 ensure that a party that gets at least 50 per cent + 1 of the valid votes, or (if only two parties gain seats in parliament) more votes than the next ranking party (a relative majority), it is assured of a parliamentary majority. Confusion about how to calculate and respect such majorities is warping the last phase of the electoral campaign. That is a wasteful distraction from the meaning of the voter's power of one, from the voter's need to wield his individual power with enough others who think like him to produce a majority in parliament, one that gives a party the power to govern without ever forgetting the grave burden of that responsibility.
What we require and should ensure is that the political leaders honour the power of the voter, at least in this the conclusion of this year's harsh campaign, with a sincere appeal to sense and a true effort to persuade. Through the election voters cede their power, their individual sovereignty, to the majority among representatives they elect, leaving it to the resulting minority to be a watchdog on the voters' behalf and to work to try to earn their approval the next time around.
Before we do that, we have to search within ourselves for the right reasons to give our preference, to think with our own minds at some distance from the din. It may be useful, as each of us prepares to exercise the power of one, if we digest an example set by Mr Mandela for any leader who seeks power from the electorate:
"I try not to be a rabble rouser. People want things explained to them clearly and rationally. They recognise when someone is speaking to them seriously. They want to see how you handle difficult situations and whether or not you stay calm" - The Making of a Leader, by Richard Stengel.