It is that time of the year. March is looming. Hopeful candidates for the next round of local council elections have been knocking at my door. Many may be electable, but almost all are party hacks. From Ghasri to Birkirkara, the hegemony of partisan politics is complete. The national obsession has been faithfully reproduced in every city, town and village of Malta and Gozo.
Those with some memory would remember the days when we were told that local councils would not simply decentralise but also democratise and depoliticise. So much wiser after the event, I can now confidently say that only decentralisation has materialised. My vote on local councils is: only one point out of a maximum of three.
As if the national playing field wasn't enough, party politics has now poisoned localities as well. Candidates hopeful of election must align themselves to a partisan bandwagon. Serious independent contenders start with a net handicap. Many excellent community leaders don't even bother to try their fortunes as "independents" any more. Barring a couple of exceptions, they don't stand a chance against the party machinery, campaign funds and organisation and, most of all, against the duped electorate. A few wild cards try their luck anyway but their constituency is usually narrow and at times merely with spiteful or playful intent. They play into the hands of the parties, who can claim that they are fielding the only "serious" candidates.
But that is not all. Democracy has also suffered heavy damage. Our serious candidates (the party hacks) are not just endorsed by their political party but remain subservient to that party even if and when elected to office. They are not really accountable to the people who elected them. They are told how to vote. They are disciplined if they vote against party instruction. They must vote along with their party colleagues against the party hacks of "the other side". They are simply their master's voice. Rather than an attempt at developing "bottom up" governance practices that involve communities in their own development, all our 67 local councils are an exercise in party government, "top down".
The political parties are having a wonderful time. They cannot have it any better than it is. An accurate straw poll of public opinion every 12 months with a wonderful national sample of 33 per cent. A chance to mobilise the faithful to effuse passion while consolidating blind allegiance. Strong electoral turnout is a foregone conclusion. A convenient nursery where budding candidates for the testing ground of national politics can be fielded, observed, toughened. An opportunity to claim victory after it is all over. (Both main parties claim victory every year.)
Other than that, the only unintended beneficiary of this condition over the past decade has been the local Catholic Church. Disappointed by the crass partisanship of local councils, many Maltese have flocked to the local parish to organise or participate in local events that attract people from all political stripes. A solid minority is not turning out to vote when their local council elections come up.
There is no community in Malta, and only the Church-as-parish gets close. But this is not a secular organisation, although it performs many useful secular roles.
There is too much voter subservience to the system. We have too much government. We desperately need space for governance. Some space where secular communities can develop and function.
Political parties must let go of local councils. In word and in deed.
gbaldacchino@upei.ca