Election candidates might be more tech-savvy this year than they were in 2008 – but so are voters.

As politicians make sometimes unwanted overtures to the electorate through social media and the internet, the electorate is hitting back through the power of memes.

Internet memes are broadly defined as images, videos, phrases or ideas that are virally transmitted.

Malta’s young online community has been quick to embrace the satirical potential of this phenomenon, and those with the sharpest wits and claws have been busy creating and sharing topical election-based memes in recent weeks.

The campaign slogans have come in for particular attention, with the Nationalists’ Futur fis-Sod (a secure future) being widely parodied as Futur fis-Sodda (a future in bed) – a suggestion, perhaps, that the PN will be able to take a rest after the election.

On the same theme, the PN’s priorities of “work, health and education” have been replaced with some new ones: “Mattress, pillow and blanket”.

Labour’s slogan Malta Tagħna Lkoll (a Malta for all) has not been spared either ­– with one image circulating of aliens holding up this message.

Satirical website Bis-Serjetà has taken aim at both campaigns, with one meme showing party leaders Lawrence Gonzi and Joseph Muscat in an “election playground”, with the PL leader telling his rival that it’s his turn to play with the yo-yo.

Meanwhile, Labour’s new ‘secret weapon’, the seemingly popular candidate Konrad Mizzi, has come in for the Joseph Kony treatment.

A mock-up doing the rounds on Facebook suggests that the PN will “stop at nothing to take him down” – a parody of last year’s viral campaign against African warlord Kony.

If that doesn’t work, then the PN could also call on friends in high places ­– one meme shows Dr Gonzi and deputy leader Simon Busuttil dressed as nuns above a message asking people to pray that the Nationalists get more votes.

Even the leaders’ wives have taken some flack, with a meme suggesting Dr Muscat’s wife Michelle would be a big hit in Gozo with her coat made out of ġbejniet, the cheeselets Gozo is famous for.