With the end of year coming up, it is traditional for most of us to try to pause and reflect on the past year and sometimes commit to resolutions for the coming year. This is an ideal time to contemplate events and issues that may not only have changed the course of things as we knew them but possibly also had a direct impact on people’s lives.
The year 2016 must surely go down as the year when results on the political front worldwide reflected the increasing divide between politicians and the people. It started with Brexit in the UK, where what started off as a trickle of persistent propositions ended in a flood of highly sparked emotions which mobilised voters into voting for a divorce from the European Union for the UK.
For many across the world, this was a shock result which left millions in disbelief. For others, it was a natural consequence of a savvy crusade which focused on defining issues like immigration to galvanise older voters. The result heralded the resignation of British Premier David Cameron in July and started off a multi-continent wave of political scrutiny as to whether the vote could be interpreted as ‘anti-establishment’.
We witnessed a similar phenomenon happening in the US in November with the selection of Donald Trump as US president. A colourful character with at times utmost controversial arguments, Trump hit the popular headlines fast with his admission that he was ‘the outsider’ candidate in the presidential race and rallied his forces once again with categorical issues, even if at times the strategies for these were vague in the least or brazen at best.
He certainly added colour to the US presidential campaign with his outrageous declarations and probably contributed to heightened numbers following the election for all the wrong reasons. The bottom line was that Hillary Clinton seemingly represented a class of politicians that no longer enjoys popularity, while Trump as a newcomer to politics appealed to voters and their frustrations.
Come December and Italian Premier Matteo Renzi announced his resignation following a referendum result which failed to give him the necessary support he was seeking to change the country’s constitution. Again, political pundits interpreted this result as a strong message to a government which was seemingly failing to connect with voters and used the first available instance to convey their frustrations at the polls.
Labour will bank on the coming six months of EU presidency to try to crowd out the growing chorus of disapproval
The way by which this message was conveyed may have seemed perplexing to an Italian administration bent on reforms but further consolidated the theory of the divide between politicians and people’s expectations.
I find it intriguing to apply all of this to the local scene. With Malta facing the next general election anytime between late 2017 and early 2018, it will be interesting to see how this theory of ‘anti-establishment rebellion’ will pan out.
During the last electoral campaign, Joseph Muscat proved to be an artificer of populism and tactfully blazed a campaign trail based on populist issues. As seen elsewhere around the globe, he successfully galvanised voters by responding to emotional issues with the powerful conviction that a Labour Party in government with its trusty ‘roadmap’ would have the quick fixes that voters seek.
In reality, populism tends to get ugly when it gets into power, as the increasing frustration is felt on both sides of the spectrum – the politician and the voter. In Malta, we have witnessed a Labour Party that has transformed from vox populi to vox modo meo proprio with extraordinary velocity.
Voters are daily fed a doctrine of how Labour has changed the country, when in fact this change has only been felt by the privileged few who have corrupted, commissioned, coerced and colluded for personal gain. The mighty feel invulnerable, while the meek are increasingly dissatisfied with the way their aspirations have been neglected.
In this regard, it appears this administration will continue regaling the general audience with tales of incessant nepotism, internecine machinations and unabashed acts of sleazy corruption. Indeed it has been a boon year for the Opposition, which has in collaboration with the media and civil society week after week uncoverred acts of improper governance and breaking of the established protocol.
It has been truly an amazing spiral downwards for Muscat’s administrative team, which appears increasingly disjointed and disparate in its decisions. I wager that Labour will bank on the coming six months of EU presidency to try to crowd out the growing chorus of disapproval coming from many quarters. This strategy and its attendant results have yet to be tested.
Caroline Galea is a Nationalist Party general election candidate on the fourth district.