The Prime Minister mentioned the idea that local council elections should be held on the same day of the European Parliament. He argued that this would ease political tension in the country and also save some money for the government.

The truth of the matter is that this idea has been floated for some time.

Until a few years ago, we had local elections every March. Both parties fought it out hard and engaged the public in big campaigns.

Ironically, when I headed the local councils section within the Nationalist Party, the Labour Party turned down a suggestion that we space the local elections further apart. The unspoken reason was obvious.

At the time, the PN in government was the subject of harsh public criticism and unpopularity. The majority of people who had an axe to grind with the government at the time saw the local council elections as a golden opportunity to drive the point home. In fact, localities that were considered safe Nationalist majorities started to turn red.

Irrespective of strategies political parties could achieve, a democracy needs to have mid-term elections

I remember that, at one point, the PN only mustered a majority in 21 localities in Malta. The PL did not want to miss the opportunity to drive the message home that the PN was unpopular and wanted a yearly reminder.

The truth is that, as much as Labour wanted to continue with the public onslaught and humiliation of its rivals, the PN was capable of building a live profile of the electorate which no opinion poll could have given. To my mind, the 2008 PN victory was also due to this precise targeting that the party carried out thanks to the yearly council elections.

Irrespective of strategies that political parties could achieve, a democracy needs to have mid-term elections. The government should not be tested once every five years but also mid-term. It is a way of how the electorate can express itself democratically and collectively.

A political sentiment is infectious and approval or discontent of the government can be objectively determined through the ballot boxes. I think we have witnessed this last month.

I also do not think it is fair on the local councils themselves, in the sense that if the elections are to be permanently pegged with those of the European Parliament, they would certainly play second fiddle. The European elections will be considered more important and the local government campaign will be mere tokenism.

This would not be fair on the mayors and councillors, some of whom, on both sides of the political divide, are brilliant politicians even though on a local scale.

It is unfair even on the electorate who I believe want to discuss what is taking place precisely outside their doorstep. Residents want to discuss what are the future plans for their locality, they want to know about street sweeping and garbage collection, local enforcement and compare the energy of their councillors with others in other localities.

The local council elections allow all this to take place only if they are given the space. If the political debate of who will represent us in Brussels and down the road happen at the same time, then I believe something will have to give and I have no doubt that local councils will be given lesser importance.

It is true that local council elections were pushed to coincide with the general elections and referenda, however, these were decisions of convenience and not a general rule.

If the State would like to save money in elections, then there are a couple of things we can introduce. If proper identity cards are issued, then we can do away with the printing and distribution of voting documents. The identity card project has been pending for too many years and should have been sorted out by now.

Money can also be saved if the counting is done on a locality basis. It is ironic that an exercise in decentralisation of the government’s powers starts off with the centralisation of the electoral process.

The Electoral Commission should by now have enough experienced personnel to carry out the process in the localities. This has also been on the table for years. There is no need to have all the boxes carried by bus to Naxxar and then count the votes there. If counting starts a few minutes after the polls close in government schools in the locality, this will ease the tension and hysteria of party agents. The most the ballot boxes will travel will be within the locality itself if there are a number of polling places in the same locality.

Therefore, I would like the Prime Minister to rethink the matter and allow the democratic process to take place also mid term.

Malcolm Mifsud, a lawyer, is a former mayor of Pietá.

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