The Yes vote has come to the fore
The count so far gives 54% for Yes and 46% for No (going on what I am told).
The counting is still underway, which means that the gap between the Yes and No will narrow down. But this shows clearly the way the vote has gone.
The incredible has happened. In the last few days of the campaign, the Yes vote hardened while the No vote weakened. Lots of the undecideds – that huge chunk showing up in the surveys – appear to have decided Yes.
I strongly suggest to the politicians of the Nationalist Party that before they come out talking about conscience and ‘personal views’, they have a long, hard think about it.
And next time, they should be smarter about picking up on the Zeitgeist. Yes, this was a matter of principle. But the PN mistook the principle. It wasn’t tradition and ‘family values’. It was freedom of choice and individual liberty and dignity, the twin principles that brought the Nationalist Party to power and which have kept it in power pretty much ever since 1987.
19 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
[And next time,…….]
Well said Daphne.
I still stand by what I wrote in the previous entry; we should send all PN fundamentalists home in the next elections by voting them out.
… and you remain with what?
…….without fundamentalists.
I am still shocked (positively) at the outcome.
What an absolute pleasure it is to see that the church institution in Malta has effectively been told to naff off in civil affairs.
About time we joined the 21st Century EU.
I am happy that the Maltese people have matured, opened their minds, embraced civil liberties and broke down the prison walls of the Catholic church. Well done to us all.
With proper scientific sampling, N = 1200 for 1% margin of error, the gap between IVA and Le will not change much from the prediction.
I will be interested in the vote count by district; but, with a “Yes” decision by the majority of the people, the institution of Parliament will have a difficult time defying the people on the basis of “personal conscience,” when the purpose of Parliament is to represent the wishes of “the People.”
Obviously, the politics ahead for Parliament and the political parties will be very interesting. The job of proper divorce legislation will not be easy, but the democratic hand-writing is on the wall.
Wow, the majority didn’t give two hoots about what the bishops said :) I honestly believed in a totally different turnout.
Manny, I did as well. Thank heavens I’m not a gambler, but in any case I’m delighted I was so wrong with my predictions.
Having predicted the result, I asked my dog how he does it. “Easy,” he said. “I simply inverse Daphne’s predictions – it always works.”
[Daphne – Did I predict the result? Read my column today. I said it could go either way and that’s what the polls showed: a large chunk of undecided and the Yes and No neck and neck. If you can find a way of predicting how undecided people will decide three days before voting, let me know. I did predict one thing and I was correct: that a huge chunk of the Yes vote would come from PN supporters, more even than predicted by the polls. This is because eight out of every 10 people I know were planning to vote Yes, and we are the ‘group’ that shapes the PN’s electoral chances.]
You can square it as much as you like, Daphne. Tunnel vision is not easy to be rid of, especially when your predictions are so damned sure as certain as hell…until they’re found to need tweaking and explanatories. Qisek Angelik on a good day.
[Daphne – My goodness, you sound upset that the Yes vote got through. On the contrary, Kevin, I was 100% right when I said that the PN should go with divorce because the mood in the country, and more so among its key socio-economic group AB supporters, had changed irrevocably. On the other hand, it’s a little bit difficult for you to pick up the Zeitgeist from a najs haws in Belgian suburbia.]
Glad to have been wrong!
“Yes, this was a matter of principle. But the PN mistook the principle. It wasn’t tradition and ‘family values’. It was freedom of choice and individual liberty and dignity, the twin principles that brought the Nationalist Party to power and which have kept it in power pretty much ever since 1987.”
You are right, Daphne.
Let us put it this way. Now that the ministers and MPs are decently paid, I would have thought they would make better decisions and reach their conclusions better.
I really did not expect this, I expected the “Yes” vote (mine included) to be symbolic but far lesser magnitude than the No vote.
Divorce legislation is a very hard sell. I have friends who are far from being fools or strongly religious who simply could not grasp the concept.
In my mind there is no doubt that Labour’s exhortation for a Yes vote tipped the balance, and without that, 40:60 would have been very good going.
Without any respect at all, most Labour followers will like sheep follow their leader’s cue without question.
Unfortunately for the PN (well – depending on how you look at it) the PN’s supporters come from the thinking class and many are hence far from diehard followers of the party’s dogma.
Whatever!
Arthur and Andre, if you could turn the clock back.
IVA won…. again!
Daphne, I am sure that I am not the only one to see a pattern in the votes as they were announced by district. The result is generally a Yes vote, but it is clear that in the Labour districts (II, III, IV ) the percentage Yes is very high, while as you move West and North to the PN districts, the No vote increases (though still with a small Yes margin) until you get to Gozo, where the No vote dominates. I am not a political analyst by no means, but many such persons are going to have a field day, trying to translate this into an election mood survey.
[Daphne – They would do so at their peril.]
Shame that Martin Scicluna, who worked so hard and for so long at building a case for divorce, and presented so many logical and dispassionate arguments towards a ‘yes’ vote has today not featured in any of the media. Or have I missed it?
The Indipendent talked about victory of commonsense. Laughable Ridiculuos. Mela mara imsawta trid id-divorzju biex ir-ragel li sawwatha jmur jerga jsawwat. Mela jien bahnan. Dik intiha l-annullament so that he would not beat the second wife. Viva il- commonsense u ir-raguni. Halluna ha nghixu zeros.
[Daphne – People who have had their marriages declared null are free to marry, Robert. And a man doesn’t need to put a ring on a woman’s finger before he ill-treats her.]
This is not fear this is researched information.