The day when all the citizens are equal

Soon, the election will be so much water under the bridge. There are many received ideas according to which the previous election was crucial because of the issue of EU membership and that therefore there are no big issues in this election, and the opposition should win because those Labour supporters who had voted in favour of EU membership will now return and vote for their party. This ignores the fact that there were not only Labour supporters but also Nationalists who were not in favour of EU membership. But given the secretive nature of the democratic vote at the polls, this proposition only remains a qualitative interpretation at best and is not supported by any scientific quantitative evidence.

As a matter of fact even a sizeable number of politicians failed to make the correct reading of the situation: Independent of its size, the Maltese electorate proved to be more sophisticated than some amateur politicians tend to recognise. It was not only the referendum and the last general election that provided the Maltese electorate with the opportunity to show, at individual level, that they were able to analyse the propositions made by the political leaders and to make a clear choice.

Many politicians though, believed and failed to understand that it was an individual choice and that the high level of sophistication was demonstrated earlier and in particular during the 1996 and 1998 general elections when the short-lived Labour administration was sent back to opposition only after 22 months into the legislature.

It is recognised that after the referendum and the ensuing election, the PN was comfortably returned to power also thanks to a sizeable number of Labour supporters who identified themselves with the EU project. To that date, one can undoubtedly say that the Labour party leadership was lagging behind its followers who exercised their freedom of choice at the polls. To a great extent, the commitment to EU membership has been forced as a fait accompli upon the Labour Party leadership for which it remains more an issue of realpolitik rather than one of philosophical political conviction.

The day after the elections and during the legislature, a number of citizens who are entrusted with the running of the country in different capacities and posts of responsibility are transported into believing and behaving as if they have more than one single vote at the polls. Come election time, they suddenly discover that after all each citizen weighs only one at that critical moment.

This weekend, less than five years into EU membership, the Maltese electorate faces another choice of a different nature this time, but no less important. Contrary to what many would like to believe, that EU membership is now a done irreversible deal like the democratic credentials that Malta established over decades at a high cost, EU membership is a process that must be persistently and consistently sustained as it carries both opportunities and challenges.

Along this line of thought and against a mixed background of achievements and shortcomings of the incumbent administration, there are many who strongly believe that it will be unwise and short-sighted to believe that the EU process is irreversible and that it can be championed and safeguarded by the very same party and people that combated it, but moreover that has not clearly and unequivocally publically recognised that its previous choices about EU membership were erroneous to say the least.

Come next Saturday, the only day when all the citizens equal to one, while some will seek to express their discontent or anger and even administer a lesson towards those whom they feel let them down once the elections were over, I will join the electorate who will once more display a great degree of sophistication by voting for a party that will guarantee and safeguard their previous choices.