The electoral campaign has begun with a vengeance. We were bombarded by references to LAN (I hope I got it right), the interconnector, gas pipelines, all sorts of figures and statistics, technical data galore. The discussion about the utility rates totally dominated the debate. Everything else, including the publication of the electoral manifesto of the PN was put on the back burner, if noticed at all. One get the impression that given the length of the campaign the PN are playing their cards at a slower pace than the PL. We’ll see how things progressed.

The discussion about the utility bill is very important. The result of the election will surely be greatly influenced by how much people believe or not the Labour leader. One notices also that several participate in the debate without knowing what it is really all about. Among the things that struck my attention during this first week of the electoral campaign was this comment posted under some blog or other.

“Dear EX MINISTER Mr fenech, you said that by the PLs proposals will go into private hands if they build the POWER STASTION, mela, MID MED BANK, LOTTO, AIR MALTA, TUG MALTA; you have sold our GROWN JEWLES to the private sector, MELA LINTER CONNECTOR MHUX FLUS HIERGIN MIL PAJJIS HA KONNA???”

His vote about “linter connector” is equally valid to Kondrad Mizzi’s and his view about privatisation are equal to the vote of the rest of us.

The broadcasting on TVHemm of a vox-pop about this debate was of no surprise. The TVHemm “journalists” asked people, among other things, about the interconnector. Do you have one at home? Surprise! Surprise! No one has an interconnector at home. What a shame! But with so many people on the risk of poverty how can one afford an interconnector? Where would you place it if you get it? As assortment of in the kitchen, on the roof or behind the door was the proposed offering.

Such examples crop up continuously. I have on more than one occasion referred to the case of the man who, before the 1987 election, could not understand why Eddie Fenech Adami wanted to do a “national circumcision”!

Politicians speak one language while many people speak a different one. The use of technical jargon gets most people nowhere. The debate has so far been characterised by this technical language, partly because it is a technical subject and partly through lack of communication skills. The fault is not the people’s but the politicians. People are not stupid. It just happens that many times their agenda is different from that of the political elite.

When politicians use imagery instead of concepts, then they communicate. The women speaking about her plight in the Labour do in Marsaxlokk communicates more than hours of speeches by the PL leadership. People are more important than concepts and Orwellian versions of the Maltese history, Waterfront style.

An image used by the Nationalists that stuck people’s attention is their description of the gas tanks that Labour wants to build in Marsaxlokk: tanks as wide as the Mosta Dome. Who wants two Mosta domes over and above everything else that there is in Dellimara, and built on unsafe ground, to boot?, the PN spokespersons said. Labour needs to answer that one with an image not a concept.

The worst part of this week was the tedious over-repetition. Within 24 hours of the publication of the PL energy plans two specific politicians were on four different programmes broadcast by just one station! Arguments were repeated ad nauseam. The only thing that changed over the hours was the aggro between the politicians.

The station can, quite naturally defend itself by saying that it is not the station which chooses the guests but the guests (through their political parties) impose themselves on the station. This sad state of affairs is thanks to a decision of the Broadcasting Authority. This decision is, I believe, partly responsible (although surely not part of the intention of the BA) for Leo Brincat’s unacceptable attitude when asked the first question by Norman Vella on Xarabank. The decision of the Authority will (unintentionally, I once more note) empower politicians to treat journalists with the same respect dogs treat lamp posts. If the opposite happens the Authority can fine or censure the “offending” station or journalists. But the Authority will (can?) do nothing when arrogance comes from the side of the politician.

Do we have to go through eight other weeks of constant repetition and boredom or will the parties somehow creatively lighten up the scene? I think, with respect to Postman, that we will be boring ourselves to death.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.