Comments on: Stay put and vote where you are living

By: kayapyTip

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By: Jan P

Jan P — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:23:10 +0000

My daughter was born in Malta and no doubt her family will jump at the chance of a free flight to Malta. Our local pub is full of Maltese and my partner has a Maltese son-in-law with extended family. Just how many planes are available for voters and who says who gets the available seats? Doesn’t seem fair when obviously not everyone can benefit. My friend has already had to give up her home in Malta because Air Malta stopped flying from the airport in Scotland.

By: Tim Ripard

Tim Ripard — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:00:19 +0000

Congratulations on the makeover of the site, by the way. Pretty good. [Daphne - Thank you. And it took one person just a few hours around lectures. Makes you wonder why Maltastar took months to come up with that. Is-soltu Lejber.]

By: Tim Ripard

Tim Ripard — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:37:17 +0000

I could kick myself. I’m coming to Malta on June 10th, and paying almost €300 with our dear friends KM, when I could have flown over on June 6th (or 5th) for a pittance, it seems. Would you believe that once I knew I could vote in the EP elections here in Vienna, it didn’t occur to me that there’d be cheapo flights to Malta available to those who want to vote in Malta?

By: John Schembri

John Schembri — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:51:00 +0000

Bil-haqq, “Il-lum il-Gimgha ma’ jiswiex laham!”. Bon appetit.

By: John Schembri

John Schembri — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:44:35 +0000

I visited Vietnam maybe five years ago – Ho Ci Mihn city (Saigon). There they vote but would not know the true results . Egypt I believe is another example where people vote but do not have a choice. Lately we saw Mugabe being ‘elected’. And I am not sitting all day long in front of the computer. Sajjartilhom naqa’ mqarrun il-forn, mill-ewwel ‘l hawn. [Daphne – Tajjeb. Jien sajjart il-porku.] Ir-racanc has increased in the Labour Party. But we have to be careful not to have some Lorry Sant in the PN. [Daphne – that’s why it was so important not to allow a situation in which politicians, in collusion with special-interest groups, can sabotage the planning process, as we saw happen just some weeks ago.]
@Joseph Attard Baldacchino: on electronic voting, I can assure you that in Malta both parties would be able to enter, use and abuse system.

By: MikeC

MikeC — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:08:50 +0000

@Joseph Attard Baldacchino

Much as I would like to agree you, I’m afraid I can’t, notwithstanding (or maybe because of) my involvement in the IT industry. Electronic voting is so far fraught with problems, so electronic voting across the internet is going to be an order of magnitude more problematic. When some other country has got it sorted out, having been the guinea-pig, then fine – but in the meantime, I’ll pass.

Here are some of the documented problems. There are actually rumours and claims of many more problems than those on this list, of course.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voting#Documented_problems

By: John Schembri

John Schembri — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:50:04 +0000

In Vietnam they vote, that does not make that country democratic. [Daphne - I thought you would spend some time hunting the internet for the exception that proves the rule.] Political parties taking names of non-voters is a breach of one's privacy. [Daphne - I tend to agree, but then again, neither party has an interest in ceasing the practice, and honestly, I don't care whether my name is taken or not because I have nothing to hide in that respect. The real invasion of privacy is when they ring up at home to see why you haven't voted.] We are supposed to be a free country. You are free when you are free to choose even to shirk your duty, then you suffer the consequences, not from a political party. Even extremely silly people have rights. [Daphne - What confused thinking, John, honestly.] So you are convinced that we are living in Utopia? [Daphne - No, John, I am not, and no reasonably intelligent person expects to live in Utopia. However, I am more than capable of assessing the pros and cons and working out what can be realistically achieved, and assessing what has been achieved.] I can see a lot of faults with this government and would vote for it if an election comes because Labour has ten times as many faults and it does not inspire me. The way this government is handling the manufacturing industry is nearly perfect, but I cannot agree with the way the water and electricity consumers are being treated. I don't like to be fined for a traffic offence which I never committed. [Daphne - Water and electricity bills? Traffic fines? If those are your only complaints, you do live in Utopia. What lots of people here really need is exposure to the long, sharp shock of real life.] I was hoping (against hope) that George Abela would change Labour. [Daphne - So was I, but in retrospect, how so? The party remains chock-a-block with racanc.]

By: Joseph Attard Baldacchino

Joseph Attard Baldacchino — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:45:30 +0000

I cannot understand why we are living in 2009 and we’re still not using the internet and all digital tools available for voting. As long as you have an internet connection you can vote from any place on earth!

By: John Schembri

John Schembri — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:35:18 +0000

Committed? Coerced by Labour to vote PN maybe. Maybe I am committed to choose the best from two evils, like many of us here. [Daphne – That’s where you’re wrong. The more intelligent among us vote PN out of conviction, because we are able to gauge ability, credibility and results. I wouldn’t describe the PN as the lesser of two evils. It is not an evil in any way, but has been a positive force for the good in Malta. The Labour Party, on the other hand, is beyond hopeless.]
I know how common people think; I don’t live in an ivory tower (not referring to you). [Daphne – The fact that one might be a common person – I’m not referring to you – does not mean that one knows how the ‘common people’ think. There is no such thing as the ‘common people’. Attitudes and beliefs have to be assessed at a microscopic level to gain a true picture of popular opinion. I tend to be pretty good at this. I find it amusing that some people say, on the one hand, that I live in an ivory tower, but then on the other hand, hang onto every word I say as the gospel of popular perception.]

I believe that this system of taking names of non-voters by political parties exists only in Malta apart from dictatorial countries. [Daphne – In dictatorships, people don’t vote.] People have a right not to vote, and that is nobody’s business. [Daphne – You’re wrong there. There are some countries in which it is against the law not to vote, and they are not your dictatorships-with-elections but some of the most highly evolved democracies of all. The right you have is the right to vote, not the right not to vote. By saying that ‘not voting’ is a ‘right’, you are turning the hard-won right to vote on its head. I would never dream of not voting in a general election. I would consider it a grave dereliction of duty, and not the exercise of a right. Only extremely silly people with the brain of a flibbertygibbet think that not voting is a right rather than a failure to do one’s duty.]