The political parties and their leaders have done enough talking. Today, it is the people who will speak. What they say is what matters because they will determine who will run this country in the next legislature.
“Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters,” Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the US, had said.
The Maltese electorate does not need much prodding to exercise its sovereign right to vote because Malta has the highest turnout in the world among countries where voting is not compulsory.
Citizens do not only have a right to vote but also the duty.
Some may argue that staying away from the polls may itself be a way of voting because it is a sign of protest.
There are others who would tell you why bother since a single vote will not decide the election. But does it, especially in a small country like ours where the results can be very tight, though that certainly was not the case in 2013?
Every vote counts but, more importantly, voting in an election is a duty that every citizen should not only feel in duty bound to do but, more so, find pride in doing.
For a whole month – since May 1, when the Prime Minister asked the President to dissolve Parliament – the protagonists were the serving and prospective politicians. They conveyed their messages and made a multitude of statements, which, possibly, included things they thought the people wanted to hear rather than what they really meant. They were constantly under the limelight and occupied thousands of column metres on newspapers, hours on end on radio and TV and every nook and cranny on the social media.
In comparison, it was so much quieter yesterday and so it will be today, so-called reflection days when the electorate is given time to discern what was offered over the past 30 days.
When they put down the numbers on the ballot paper today, voters will not only be choosing which political party they trust to run the country but also the individuals who will sit in the House of Representatives.
The first preference vote given to a candidate determines which of the two large political parties will govern. Subsequent preferences, listed in chronological order, indicates voters’ choices as to who they trust most to represent them in Parliament.
Even though not many voters may realise it, this is a crucial selection process because the personal convictions and moral standards of an MP can and, indeed, should influence how a party behaves on given issues. The uprightness, fortitude and political correctness of elected candidates can be an efficient and effective system of checks and balances not just in the House but also within the closed walls of political parties’ headquarters.
The opinion polls of the past days and weeks today become insignificant not just because it is election day but also, to quote Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck, people never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.
Today, nobody will ask which party will you be voting for. Today, you and your conscience will be voting.