It could be the end of Gonzi's government (or not), it could be the end of Sant's leadership of the MLP (or not), it could be the end of AD as a political force (or not), it will be the end of AzzNazz as a serious entity (can have an end if you haven't had a beginning) and it should be the end of the hunters as a serious lobby (the sooner the better).

Of whatever it is that it is the end, it is nigh - the end of the campaign, I mean.

Hopefully, it will signify the end of the cowardly form of electioneering that the MLP has adopted, that form of electioneering that involves throwing mud, secure in the knowledge that some will stick and that some people won't recognise the tactic for what it is: Cynical grubbing for votes in the sewer.

Yes, I know that is strong language, but, frankly, this sort of hypocritical cynicism deserves nothing less.

Our choice

It's up to us, now, folks. Do we want the country to be led by Lawrence Gonzi, whose record is what it is?

From where I'm sitting, it's a record that includes ensuring that this country has taken its rightful place in Europe, that includes getting the economy back on its feet after a pretty serious wobble and that includes getting a measure of seriousness back into the national outlook on life.

Sure, there have been blips, some of them serious but everyone has setbacks. It's very convenient to be able to sit back and let someone else do the work, snipe at them all the time and then put yourself forward as a serious alternative. That's all that Alfred Sant is, really, an alternative and a pretty mediocre, three-time loser of an alternative, too, as we saw when he was given a spell in charge.

Sure, there are people who have been disappointed, disappointed perhaps that Mepa has failed to live up to their expectations, or disappointed that their personal interests have not been catered for: To these, all I can say is try to put your narrow point of view behind you and look at the bigger picture. For every opportunity you think you have had denied you, many, many more have been opened, for you and your children.

It's human nature to be self-interested but measure your self-interest against certain realities and see if it stands up.

Gagging for it

Or do we want to be led by someone who is just gagging for it, who clearly believes that he can say what he likes, when he likes and how he likes, just as long as it gets him votes?

Dr Sant thinks, clearly, that what he says is the truth just because he says it.

Although everyone has said he can't, he's promised to renegotiate our terms of membership of the EU (which I take as code for threatening to take us out).

Although it's clear to everyone that charging for health services was never on the government's agenda, Dr Sant has said that it was and therefore it was, and there's an end to it. So he's being sued for libel? So what? By the time the case is heard, he'll either be Prime Minister or ex-Leader of the Opposition.

Dr Sant, for all his party's hubristic predictions of 20,000 vote advantages and for all his smug smirks, has made a Freudian slip of pretty cataclysmic proportions. At the mass meeting last Sunday, with breathtaking tawdriness, he told us that he has more evidence of corruption (which is the only stick he's beating the government with - he can't use policies, because he has few and the few he has are either made up on the hoof or filched from the Nationalists) but can't give us evidence "because this would harm the people who gave it him".

Apart from the sheer cheek of his even daring to use this childishly petty excuse, what does he mean? Does he think that everyone acts the way his party used to when it was in government?

But there's more to this slip, though, plenty more. It is clear that Dr Sant thinks he's not fit to govern because what he said means that, in his heart of hearts, he knows that he shouldn't be in a position to protect the squealers, because he shouldn't be trusted to govern. Taken to its logical conclusion, last Sunday's appalling statement is nothing less than an admission, conscious or not, that he doesn't think he's fit to win on Saturday.

Run away, run away

And what do you say about his behaviour last Monday, for that matter? Not content with avoiding Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando on the road, Dr Sant chickened out of a televised press conference because Dr Pullicino Orlando was going to be there.

According to the Broadcasting Authority, that fine, upstanding protector of virginal broadcasting, as long as its Labour's interests that are being protected (some things never change), Dr Pullicino Orlando technically shouldn't have been there.

Whatever, Dr Sant acted exactly like a schoolyard bully, running away to whine to the teacher, with his tail between his legs as soon as his victim stood up to him. Is this the man who we want to lead the country? Someone who acts like this?

I, for one, don't and nor do others.

Just do it

I have been accused of having vested interests - though, frankly, anyone who accuses me of this doesn't know me - but does the vast mass of people who have been expressing their feelings on the blogs and in the comments sections also have a vested interest?

Do you want to be counted among the ones who see through Dr Sant's mask or do you want to bury your head in the sand and choose him, by commission or omission? At the end of the day, it's up to you and it's up to me and it's up to all of us. Are we going to make futile gestures, because the PN has annoyed us? For heaven's sake, most of the ministers have annoyed me at some time or another but, compared to what Dr Sant has been doing to my blood pressure over the last days, that's nothing.

Even worse, are you going to align yourself with thugs that masquerade as hunting enthusiasts? Now, the leaders - certainly one of them - of hunters and trappers, have gone as far as stopping mere inches from inciting them to break the law. It's a forlorn hope, but just once won't the MLP do the decent thing and tell them that it too will respect the law?

Are you going to go for the "plague on both your houses" line that is being peddled?

If you are, consider the stark reality is that unless AD multiply their vote in the only districts where they have a chance of getting in by a factor of 10, which is not going to happen, a vote for them is only a vote for Dr Sant. I truly understand the frustration of people who want a third way but this is not going to happen and the alternative is what it is.

It's up to us now.

imbocca@gmail.com, www.timesofmalta.com/blogs