Local councillors should put residents first, poll shows

The vast majority - 89 per cent - of respondents to an online poll by The Times feel that local councillors should not adopt party lines when voting on purely local issues.

Most said that all local issues had nothing to do with the national political scene and, rather than following the herd's instinct, councillors should act in the interests of the residents who elected them, irrespective of their political belief.

Some Sliema residents said they were disgusted with the way the Nationalist councillors in the locality had behaved with regard to the proposed Qui-Si-Sana development.

"Councillors represent the people, not themselves, so they have no right to meet whoever they like behind other councillors' backs. I've always voted PN in the Sliema local council elections but after this they can go to hell," one irate respondent wrote.

Some argued it was natural for councillors to work along party lines if they were elected on a party manifesto.

One respondent said he was a councillor elected on a party ticket but he still represented people's views. "I contested in the name of a political party just to show what my principles are. But when it comes to voting, I vote in people's interests," he wrote.

Others argued that one had to accept that political parties dominated the political scene, so it was foolish to expect issues to be otherwise.

"One might pretend to be independent but in reality no one is, so it is pointless arguing about not following party lines," one said.