In her column last Sunday, Claire Bonello tries to speculate on what is going on behind the scenes in the Nationalist camp, regarding the electoral campaign, in the wake of Alfred Sant's major operation. It would be interesting to know, but I think it is not that important.

What is important - which Dr Bonello downplayed in her article - is "Sant's obstinate anti-EU stance or dysfunctional VAT-substitute system". The negative record we experienced when Dr Sant was in power is the very reason he should not be in government again.

Dr Sant still seems to be Eurosceptic, he is the same person who made the Gooonzi "joke" in front of a baffled crowd of supporters, and who embarrassed us when he addressed EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso in mid-June last year.

I consider Dr Sant's Harvard doctorate and all his other qualifications, as a big plus in his CV; I do not care whether he is good-looking or not. But I think I need to know if he is physically fit to run my country. I want to know what a candidate thinks about gay marriage, divorce, abortion, animal rights, hunting and the environment.

As a voter I should know whether the politician seeking my vote is a practising Catholic or an atheist, a smoker, a former member of MUSEUM, Catholic Action, the Scout Movement, Opus Dei or a Freemason, for that matter. I think a voter should know about each candidate's civil status and sexual inclinations, so that if one is in favour of divorce, one would choose candidates who are "denting the duvet with someone who is not their spouse" and not members of the Cana Movement. Voters need to know everything there is to know about the people who want to lead the country, and Dr Sant is no exception.

Talking about ethics and negative advertising, while eggs were being thrown at Dr Sant, the MLP media never stopped its mudslinging and smear campaign against the "newcomer" Dr Gonzi and his ministers. Only the other day I happened to watch a programme of month-by-month mudslinging "journalism" on One TV.

Above all, the Maltese want a stable government, that is why perhaps the majority votes PN; the "speculation that Sant might opt to take up a less prominent role as time goes by" helps only to convince the electorate to vote for the devil they know: we do not want to witness the "night of the long knives" half-way through a legislature's term, as we had witnessed after Dr Sant's self-induced resignation in 1998.

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