In our electoral system, more than any other system, every vote counts. Not just the first preference votes but all the subsequent preferences. General elections were won in Malta by a handful of votes. Election candidates lost being elected by less than a handful. So it is plain stupid for any voter to declare that he is not voting because with or without his vote it will make no difference to the final tally.
Let me give just two real examples. In the last general election drama was unfolded in the casual election to determine who won a seat for Labour in the fourth electoral district. In this district Etiene Grech was elected after four counts had to be taken to determine who among Stefan Buontempo and Andy Ellul was to be eliminated in the penultimate round after both candidates obtained 1,243 votes each.
On a national basis five votes determined the 1971 general election in which the Labour Party was returned to power after 13 years. The scene was set in the fifth electoral district where in the first count the Labour candidates garnered 8,151 votes, the Nationalist candidates 8,130 votes and the PCP 23 votes.
The quota was 2,718 votes and no political party had enough first count votes to elect three members of Parliament. And it is in the following counts that every single vote counted. At that time I was night editor for In-Nazzjon Tagħna and I could witness this drama unveil before my eyes.
Nothing is impossible but a better result than that shown by the latest surveys will only be attained if each PN candidate visits as many families as possible
After electing two candidates, Albert Hyzler and Philip Muscat, the state of the parties was PN 8,155 votes, PL 8,143. Thus the Labour Party was 11 votes short of the third quota. It was a seesaw of counting drama with the two political parties gaining or losing their majorities depending on which candidates were eliminated and who of the other candidates received their preferences. In the sixth count the Labour candidates were on top by three votes.
Then on the seventh count the Nationalist Party had a majority of 42 votes. The eighth count determined who won the third seat and the general election. After Philip Saliba (PN) was eliminated with 1,207 votes, the PN candidates took 1,180 votes and Guzè Abela (Labour) took 20 of the remaining.
Thus at this count the Labour had five votes more than the PN. Abela was elected with 2,709 votes. The other two seats were won by George Hyzler and Albert Borg Olivier de Puget, both PN candidates. Just five votes gave Labour the right to govern.
On April 7 The Sunday Times of Malta and Malta Today published surveys about the state of the political parties in Malta a month and a half away from the European Parliament and the local council elections.
According to these findings, Labour commands the support of between 59 and 62 per cent of the electorate, the PN 37 per cent and the smaller parties about four per cent between them.
Malta elects six MEPs to the European Parliament. Thus the electoral quota will be 14.29 per cent of the valid votes cast. According to the surveys Labour is on track to elect four MEPs and the Nationalist Party two. This is without taking into consideration the high percentage of voters who declared that they have no intention to vote and the other tens of thousands who are still uncertain who to vote for. These can surely make the difference.
In the 2014 European Parliament election the Nationalist Party garnered 40 per cent of the votes and so was about three percentage votes less than the third quota. Still it managed to elect three MEPs because it obtained a good number of preferences. This shows how important is it to vote for all the candidates on the PN list.
Nothing is impossible but a better result than that shown by the latest surveys will only be attained if each PN candidate visits as many families as possible and explain to them: what is actually happening to our economy; why more pensioners are finding themselves at risk of poverty; why thousands of families could not make ends meet; why the government is not making good for the rise in the cost of living especially when it comes to food products and medicines; why the middle class is finding it difficult to buy their own house or to rent. These are the bread and butter issues which are hurting so many families.
Let me remind you how important it is for the PN to elect three MEPs. When some months ago the European Socialist Party, of which the Labour Party is a member, presented a motion in the European Parliament to declare Malta a tax haven, with all the repercussions this would have on our financial sector, thanks to the three votes of the Nationalist MEPs the final tally was a draw and the Socialist’s motion was defeated. Imagine what would have happened if instead of three MEPs the Nationalist Party had two!
In the forthcoming elections there is no room for complacency. Those Nationalist Party supporters who decide not to vote will be adding their vote to those of the Labour Party. Only through everybody’s vote can the result of the surveys be reversed.
Joe Zahra is a former editor of the Nationalist Party daily In-Nazzjon Tagħna.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece