The Real Choice

The Malta Independent on Sunday



So this is finally it. This is the contest where the real choice has to be made.

The Referendum was just a warm up where the PN tried to use public funds and resources to gain pre-electoral advantage to use as a spring board to win the election, which as well predicted followed the referendum hot on heels.

The PN played their referendum card with a good hedge. If through media control and friendly business organisations they could get an unchallengeable referendum victory then they could just dance their way through the election campaign, facing an opposition in disarray whilst searching for a new political platform as its previous non-EU membership policy would have been refuted by the majority of the eligible voters.

`And that is exactly where we stand. An honest and meaningful interpretation of the referendum result would show that the real difference between the two parties was probably very minimal, possibly in hundreds not in thousands.` If on the other hand the PN got less than the absolute overall majority they could always argue than they won the Yes/No valid votes contest and re-attempt at the subsequent election where non-voters in the referendum would be singled out for extreme political pressure.

And that is exactly where we stand. An honest and meaningful interpretation of the referendum result (unless one is arrogant enough to think that Labour are so stupid that they would contest a Yes/No referendum and advise their followers to abstain ` something which the PM says but does not believe as otherwise he would not be begging for each and every vote knowing he has a 19000 advantage) would show that the real difference between the two parties was probably very minimal, possibly in hundreds not in thousands.

Which explains why both leaders keep insisting that every vote counts. Indeed it does. The winner of the election will be the party that captures people`s imagination in the course of the campaign.

And on this basis I expect Labour to carry the contest. During the campaign Labour has had something new to reveal to voters almost everyday as we tackle issue by issue addressing each and every aspect and segment of the Maltese way of life.`

On the contrary the PN has had a flat campaigning without any news except the lies they invent every other day on Alfred Sant , George Vella and myself. The PN has had no option but to stick to their strategy of making the election a single issue contest concerning EU membership in 2004. This would have worked fine had they got an overall majority in the referendum but is now backfiring as people are convinced that the country is not yet ready for such big decision and priority needs to be given to those domestic sectors much nearer to the realities of their everyday life.

Is it not indicative that the PN could hardly include any meaningful content in the 30 pages of gloss and large print which comprise their electoral manifesto` Compare this to Labour`s manifesto consisting of 51 pages of mostly small print text giving detailed analysis and proposals for an action programme for each sector of our society.` No gloss, no pictures, just details showing that Labour is seriously ready to govern and will bring in a breathe of fresh air to the stale administration of this country which only wakes up to conduct normal administration in the last couple of months during the campaign but otherwise sit cosily commissioning and reading reports during the course of their term in office. `During the campaign Labour has had something new to reveal to voters almost everyday as we tackle issue by issue addressing each and every aspect and segment of the Maltese way of life.`

What stood out during the campaign is how the PN had no answers to the serious allegations of corruption and maladministration. When I accuse John Dalli of underselling Mid-Med Bank in an abusive single-handed manner, his only reply was that I had wished to become Chief Executive of HSBC. If it were true I would have no apology to make to anyone as I would have all it takes for the job; but it is in any event an outright lie. But true or false, what has that got to do with my charge of his pasticcio in the privatisation of Mid-Med Bank`

When we ask why no proper investigation was made regarding the Daewoo scandal we meet dead silence. When society demands investigations on` serious claims about a person` erroneously condemned for criminal acts perpetrated by others who were awarded presidential pardons for offering personal protection to the Prime Minister, we see the PM washing his hands off Zola` style` letting justice takes its own course.` That would be fine if he had not interfered in the course of justice in the first place to become a Sherlock Holmes and freely offering presidential pardons rather than let the police do their job properly.

Even the single issue that could have saved them is just not working anymore. Labour`s offer to re-run the referendum mid-term through the legislature where the electorate will be given a real choice between a fully explained partnership deal which by then would have been negotiated, and the membership terms as negotiated by the PN which are still obscurely hidden away from the electorate, should convince many pro-EU voters who are as tired of this administration as all the rest, that it is time to vote Labour.` We will decide on the EU issue in a truly national basis in a sober and serene environment and not in a charged environment in the throes of an election campaign.

In this last week yet more will make up their mind that in the interest of true democratic values and efficiency through a` clean and committed administration it is time to shed prejudices and swing to Labour. I mean to be there to make it happen.