The hunting lobby will not announce its strategy for the upcoming spring hunting referendum tomorrow, as had been expected, because it is still “weighing options”, Times of Malta has learnt.

High ranking sources within the hunting fraternity said research being conducted to gauge the electorate’s position on the referendum was yielding varying results. This, they added, meant it was not yet clear whether they should urge people to vote to retain spring hunting or call for a boycott of the referendum in a bid to stop the quota of votes from being reached.

“It is too early to say what position to take. The research we commissioned is ongoing, and until we are confident which road to take we can’t say either way,” the sources said.

Earlier this month, hunters’ federation president, Joe Perici Calascione, told a televised debate on the April 11 referendum that the strategy was almost finalised and would be announced this weekend.

The research we commissioned is ongoing

Questions sent to the federation yesterday were not answered by the time of writing.

The sources, meanwhile, said that at the time of the debate held on Xarabank two weeks ago, their research was giving a strong indication towards one of the two options. This had since changed, however, and the figures no longer pointed to the position the lobby should take.

While it is clear that the coalition against spring hunting will be urging the electorate to vote, it remains uncertain whether the hunting lobby will do the same or urge people to stay home or invalidate their vote.

Although unconventional, it would not be the first time a party has lobbied for an abstention. Former Labour leader Alfred Sant urged voters to abstain or vote against in the 2003 EU membership referendum. Similarly in 1956, then Nationalist Party leader George Borg Olivier called on voters to abstain in the integration referendum.