There was shock in the counting hall when independent candidate Patrick Grima was elected to the Victoria council with the backing of hundreds of votes.
One is tempted to think of Tal-Ajkla as an antidote to the boredom of the scripted events that have come to define political campaigning
That was back in 1994, when the first local elections were being held and a funny Gozitan rocker going by the nickname il-Ħanfusa (the Beetle) took Victoria by storm.
His candidature was anything but serious. However, a strong marketing campaign ensured he made it to the first Victoria council, much to the amusement of many casual observers and the consternation of the Nationalist Party and Alternattiva Demokratika – the only two political parties to field candidates.
Mr Grima’s election was a one-off but when hundreds flocked to Żabbar on Saturday to take part in a mass meeting by independent candidate Nazzareno Bonnici, it rekindled memories of il-Ħanfusa’s surprise result.
Mr Bonnici will be contesting the general election under the banner Tal-Ajkla (The Eagle) and last weekend saw the first of three scheduled meetings he intends to hold. The next one is in Vittoriosa on Saturday.
The man first contested the 2003 general election as an independent on the third district, garnering a measly 20 votes. A second run at the polls in the 2004 European Parliament election was more successful and Mr Bonnici obtained 183 first count votes.
Five years ago he did not contest the general election but took the plunge again in the EP election of 2009, where he got 80 votes.
It is unlikely The Eagle will mimic the result of the Beetle in three weeks’ time but in a country where mustering a crowd of a few tens is difficult – unless done by the two major political parties – Mr Bonnici’s hundreds caused a ripple, apart from a smile.
Mark-Anthony Falzon, a sociology professor at the University of Malta, believes the phenomenon had little to do with contemporary social trends.
There were not enough examples to attempt such an analysis, he added, noting it was more a matter of trying to understand what made the organisers go to the trouble, and a crowd of people to play along.
“That there were so many people has little to do with trends and phenomena, although one is tempted to think of Tal-Ajkla as an antidote to the boredom of the scripted events that have come to define political campaigning.
“Probably the real story is that this was a one-off that worked because it was so well organised. Facebook probably helped whet people’s appetites,” Prof. Falzon said.
The meeting was akin to a massive street party with happy faces all around as Mr Bonnici tried to impart his wisdom of a power station powered by sea water and at the same time ridiculing a proposal for a nude village on Comino made by another independent candidate.
Posting his comments beneath the report of the meeting on timesofmalta.com, Victor Pulis captured the jovial atmosphere witnessed in Żabbar.
“Zaren managed to unite Malta. In front of him were people from both the PN and PL parties and I’m sure even some from AD. This was truly a case of Malta Tagħna Lkoll and it augurs a Futur fis-Sod for our country,” Mr Pulis wrote, playing on the slogans of the two major parties. But there is no denying that many attended just for kicks.
The political scene is not alien to such situations, although there has been an absence of comic relief to the extent witnessed last week. In the past, colourful characters such as Spiru Sant and Richard Sultana Tal-Farfett delighted people with their innocent yet outrageous arguments – who can forget Mr Sultana on television telling TVM journalist Ruth Amaira he would make her president?
Prof. Falzon said people such as Mr Bonnici tended to be popular locally, endearing, and colourful types who readily lend themselves to the role of “local jesters”.
“I say this with respect. It distinguishes them from other independent candidates, whom people largely tend to ignore.
“It helps that most of them are obviously of unorthodox intelligence, harbouring no harm and this locates them outside of the all-embracing, bi-partisan social context,” Prof. Falzon said.
These characters make “wonderful parody material”, in this case a parody of politics, he added.
Prof. Falzon said the Tal-Ajkla meeting was a straightforward parody of a PN/PL meeting. The personage, the anthem, the emblem, the choreography, the public participation were all there.
“That makes for a good laugh, which is why so many people turned up. The question does arise whether it is ethically proper to entertain oneself at the expense of vulnerable people. But that is another story,” Prof. Falzon added.
Blogger Andrew Azzopardi, a lecturer on youth studies, updated his Facebook profile with the following question: “Is it OK to take the Mickey out of Nazzareno Bonnici (tal-Ajkla)? Is a good laugh justified? To me it looked like mocking...”
The jury is still out on whether people did the right thing to attend Mr Bonnici’s meeting but one thing is certain: the man has softened up an otherwise heated electoral campaign.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com