Only half way there and the landscape is already becoming much too familiar. Going the distance diligently could cause electors to suffer from indigestion. Some might even decide not to vote at all.
We fought our hard battles for the right to a free vote. To capriciously give it up would be an act of irresponsibility- Lino Spiteri
I doubt that there will be too many of the latter. When it comes to casting the vote, Maltese electors are foremost in seeing it as a prime right to be exercised no matter what.
Whether that will hold as much with the clutch of young new voters remains to be seen.
As a democrat, one would hope that it will hold. For all the hue and cry of the daily political debate, election time is the period to do something about it.
We fought our hard battles for the right to a free vote. To capriciously give it up would be an act of irresponsibility.
On election day, therefore, expect the turnout to be near record highs.
So why is it a worry that the campaign is already fizzling out into a boring affair?
It is a worry because voting should be an informed act of behaviour.
The vote is a decision. No decision should be taken in a hurry or without critically knowing what the issues are all about.
And if the campaign is running the risk of fizzling out it contributes to that danger.
In part, this might fit in with the strategy of the main political parties.
It cannot be coincidental that the parties started by firing their heavy bazookas, as each of them tried to control the agenda of the campaign.
The main issue seemed to be how to procure fuel and its cost. Now the issue is hardly mentioned any more.
The parties march breathlessly from issue to issue, to give the impression that their quiver is full of arrows. It seems, though, that they are not carrying the people with them. So the parties are resorting to attacks on the issues being put forward by the other side.
The strange thing about this electoral campaign is that it is so simple and transparent where answers are given, that it leaves little to look forward to in terms of controversy. The Nationalists whip out that trusted weapon of scaremongering, now not just about the past but also about the present and the future.
Labour persists on being unruffled, acting gentlemanly whatever the provocation.
It almost seems like a confetti scenario. I am not saying that it will remain like this. By and by new sets of fireworks will be lit. Whispers of scandals and corruption will take a definite hue, especially if the police manage to arraign someone between now and D-Day. Arraignment will be enough for the time being.
There will be more revelations. More insinuations. Even perhaps one or two more conversions as the parties reach the Rivers of Babylon.
All that might happen. It’s the present I’m talking about. And the present is as dull as can be.
For the time being at least, the mountains have parted only to give birth to a ridiculous mouse.
It can’t be like that to the end. One hopes that by that time we shall have a clearer picture of what the parties stand for and what hard changes they will be asking us to approve to be implemented over the next five years.
The election aftermath cannot be business as usual.
That is why more is wanted from the politician, not just about style, but principally about substance. That’s where the election result should turn.