Pique, pettiness, and parish politics

The local elections in Gozo presented the Malta Labour Party and the re-elected mayor of Munxar as winners.

In the run-up, it became quite clear that several councillors were unable to rise above personal interests to work for the good of their locality. This should be, in theory, the prime motivation of a person seeking election to a local council.

It is not so in practice, and this is the reason why several councils are failing miserably in their undertakings. Pique between councillors of the same party or the same council, pettiness in the way discussions proceed during meetings, and the inability of several persons to overcome parish politics are rendering several councils a drain on the national coffers with meagre or irrelevant results in their respective communities.

Registered voters in Gozo for yesterday week's elections totalled 10,553. A total of 1,548 voting documents (14.67%) were uncollected in Gozo. Yet the turnout reached 72.55%, higher than the overall average national of 67.96%.

The Sunday Times may reveal that close to 90% of these 1,548 uncollected documents belong to holders of Maltese identity cards - residents of Malta who are registered as residents of Gozo to benefit from subsidised ferry fares.

This is clear from the low turnout in Zebbug (59%) that includes Marsalforn, where a large percentage of these supposed residents of Gozo are registered with the addresses of their holiday flats.

The Nationalist Party is being castigated by the very people who are being allowed to take unfair advantage of the Gozo Channel Company with impunity at Gozitans' expense. It must be noted that it was due to a dramatic increase in those making use of the subsidised fare, that the Gozitans had to suffer an exorbitant rise in ferry fares in the last three years.

Putting aside these Maltese who did not even bother to collect their voting document, the number of all-year-round residents of Gozo who voted surpasses 85%.

The Labour Party made its best showing in Gozo for decades, increasing its share of votes by 4.84 percentage points: from 36.02% in the local council elections of 2004 in the same localities, to an impressive 40.86%.

The Nationalist Party saw a decrease of 6.56 percentage points, from 63.75% in 2004, to 57.19% in this year's election. Alternattiva Demokratika won a respectable 1.95% of the overall vote.

The Labour Party gained much from the pique that raged among the Nationalists in Xaghra and Munxar. In Xaghra, this is reflected in the steep drop in the number of voters (from 86.65% in 2004 to 69.86% this year) and in the number of invalid votes, 125 or 4.8% of the cast votes. In Xaghra, the Labour Party gained 7.9% and the mayoralty for the first time.

In Munxar, the candidate fielded by AD, who obtained 11.7% of the vote, is the brother of the former Nationalist deputy mayor. The Nationalist Party here lost 13.2%, and so the AD votes were probably 'Nationalist' votes.

This village witnessed a sudden increase in residents from other Gozitan villages in the past months. In the coming weeks, these people will again transfer their residences to their own villages and vote again next year.

A cursory look at the six villages where an election was held reveals a number of interesting facts. In Kercem, the PN lost 1.44% to the Labour Party. Outgoing mayor Joseph Grima received almost two quotas and was confirmed.

Joseph Sultana, the mayor of Munxar, vilified for a whole fortnight by the Labour media, scorned by Alternattiva Demokratika, and slandered in his own village by a supposedly Nationalist faction, succeeded, against all odds, to retain his post. The Labour Party gained 1.44%.

In Qala, Paul Buttigieg, a vociferous opponent of the development being proposed at Hondoq ir-Rummien, was elected straightaway on behalf of the Labour Party. Qala outgoing mayor, Paul Buttigieg, won a vote of confidence from the villagers with over two and half quotas. Here, Labour gained 5.02% at the expense of the PN, many of whom are angry at the tacit approval of the Hondoq project by their party peers. This approval is being given against the will of the majority of the villagers who, in a referendum, voted against the project.

Noel Formosa of San Lawrenz, probably the longest-serving mayor in Malta and Gozo, was re-elected with two and half quotas. Labour gained 5.28% and a second councillor in this locality.

Xaghra will have a Labour mayor for the first time: Joseph Cordina won the highest number of votes by far, though fewer than in 2004.

The outgoing mayor and deputy mayor of Zebbug were both re-elected on the first count. Marsalforn elected a Nationalist and a Labourite. Labour gained 7.88% and a seat at the expense of the Nationalists, whose Maltese followers registered as voters in Gozo failed to turn up.

The people have spoken. Undoubtedly, some spoke from an egoistic point of view penalising Government for personal grievances - a rejected building permit, a good job, and a hundred and one other complaints. Several sent a message that there should be more concern for the environment. It is now Government's turn to get the message, take the necessary steps, and see that those who are at the helm and are paid thousands from our taxes actually deliver.