Should polls be regulated?

I am writing this piece on Saturday morning, just as Nationalist Party councillors are preparing to cast their vote in the first round of the election to elect Eddie Fenech Adami's successor. Thus, I cannot comment on who won this first round or whether next Wednesday's election will simply be a formality or will it be hard-fought as well.

What I would like to comment about is the use of opinion polls during such campaigns. I made this point during last Friday's Xarabank and would like to repeat it here. I have nothing against media organisations carrying out their own polls and publishing results. That is part of the democratic game. What I find questionable is publishing such survey results on the eve or just a couple of days before an election.

Many times I get the impression that opinion poll results no longer serve to reflect the ideas of a representative sample of the population. Instead, the publication of these results is being increasingly used as a tool to form or deform public opinion. In other words, it tries to create a reality rather than reflect it.

Maybe it is time that we agree upon a moratorium on opinion polls before electoral contests. My proposal, which reflects what happens in a number of other countries, is that one should consider stopping the publication of opinion poll surveys 15 days before the electorate takes a decision. A citizen should be allowed to take her or his decision without feeling that the outcome has already been decided.

I am saying all this independently of the PN leadership contest and the relative poll results.

Of course, there will be those who will argue against this proposal. Well and good. Debate is healthy. My argument is that there are an increasing number of people who are feeling that their vote or say is irrelevant simply because a poll is out. This could be counter-productive both for those in the lead and also for others. In the first case it could lead to complacency while in the other it could lead to exasperation. So, in order to put everything into perspective, those who are lagging behind could benefit from a last-minute boost since some voters may decide to turn out to help the cause.

Nevertheless, I still believe that there is room for regulation in this sphere. Without wanting to cast doubts on any opinion poll, I firmly believe that the methodology used in those surveys that go for publication should be vetted and carried out by certificated organisations. Furthermore, this framework should make sure that opinion polls are not used upfront as marketing tools rather than to help foster a healthy national debate.