The Maltese are crazy about three things: politics, religion and football. These were the words said by a Maltese to me on first stepping on Maltese soil five months ago.

As a foreign exchange student at the University of Malta, I was quite surprised by the debate at the university among the four political leaders.

The first surprise was that the debate was conducted in Maltese despite this being held at an English-speaking university. Nevertheless, I decided to stay and observe and luckily enough, a very kind Maltese girl sitting next to me translated some words and sentences the leaders were uttering.

The impression about the whole debate was one of shock. This is not the way we do politics in Slovenia. Especially, the students' reaction.

I felt like I was at the Ta' Qali national stadium, where the atmosphere was very similar to that during the match between Malta and Moldova. Shouting provocative words and disturbing the speeches during the debate was a very irresponsible and childish behaviour by students. It seems that the trend is that university students who follow politics here loudly support the present Prime Minister.

I have learned that Maltese students in general know a lot about Maltese politics, which is the completely contrary to the situation in my country.

I have also noticed that the leader of the Nationalist Party is a smart and intelligent person who knows exactly what to say to please youths and, of course, get more votes in his favour.

Labour Leader Alfred Sant did not seem very convincing with his statements and especially not popular among the students.

As an outsider I can say there is not much choice for Maltese to vote on. Of course, change is sometimes necessary and the Nationalists have been in office for quite a long time. But voting in favour of the other parties just for the sake of change can be very risky.

It is a matter of argument and persuasion. Who is the greater actor and magician to bewitch the public with his visions?

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