Metsola and Casa
Published:
May 26, 2014 at 1:22am
One of the reasons Muscat gave for the strong Labour showing was the ‘tradiment tal-PN lejn pajjizna’ in the sale of citizenship issue. If so, how does he explain Roberta Metsola’s and David Casa’s top performance?
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Metsola and Casa did not vote “against Malta”, as Muscat would have his followers parrot ad nauseam, but against the Government of Malta’s vested interests, which don’t always reflect the desires of the people – it certainly wasn’t the case with the citizenship scheme.
Not only are they not able to differentiate between party and government, they’re also unable to distinguish government from country. I’ve said it a hundred times; democracy is wasted on this country.
We know that, but try to explain that to most Labour people.
Simply define the role of any Opposition as Mintoff, that bastard, once did.
Resistance or dissent, expressed in action or argument.
“there was considerable opposition to the proposal”
hostility, antagonism, antipathy, enmity, objection, dissent, criticism, defiance, non-compliance, obstruction, obstructiveness, counteraction, opponents, opposing side, other side, other team, competition, competitors, opposers, rivals, adversaries, antagonists,
Perhaps the wisest thing to do is not ‘to explain that to most Labour people’. It would be a lost cause. It would be better not to repeat the mistake methinks. The general feeling with Labour supporters (and also with others) was that they tried to undermine the national interest.
What Metsola and Casa did was their duty and not a mistake. The national interest is to exercise democratic rights and duties and not to undermine them.
The general feeling among Labour supporters is what it is because of an intractable mindset. What would be the point of trying to become like them to attract their vote? The anti-democratic mindset is already well-served by the Labour Party.
Can we please stop parroting PL expressions?
1. The “national interest” – this does not mean any whim of the government. This is a very charged word at law which allows the government the power to suspend certain freedoms (eg external transactions – see the National Interests (Enabling Powers) Act). If we allow a low threshold for this then you are lowering the bar for the exercise of what is intended as an emergency measure.
2. My pet hate “negative” & “negativity” – PL has some very savvy political psychology advisors here (eg. energija posittiva = play on energy / bills) that are slowly managing to pull a fast one with the “negativity” game including through the reinforcement of elves on news sites and I suspect that Marlene Farrugia is trying this too.
Besides:
(a) the obvious fact that the role of the Opposition is to criticise and question the government to keep it in check (hello it’s in the name);
(b) the one-way definition being used by PL (so pointing out that the government has blatantly done an about-turn on meritocracy is negative but the tu quoque standard retort and digging in the “archives” to justify faux pas is not); and
(c) linked to (a) by forcing the Opposition to shy away from criticism (ghax ma nridux inkunu negattivi) it is given more room to pig out, and there is a psychological angle here.
In a nutshell, PL knows that by default if it can keep: the diehard Labourites (red till death), Mintoffjani, the Graffiti crowd, anti-EU, xenophobes, hunters, and people who prefer freebies to work, happy and together it can muster a majority and keep it.
Political psychology has found that a “positive campaign” makes people stick with their current choice (ie no thinking) whereas a “negative campaign” makes people think twice including making liberals more conservative.
In essence, a smart campaign advisor would use positive ads when the party is ahead and reserve negative ads for when they are behind. By forcing a move away from the negative, PL is also ensuring that the above voting groups do not think and stick to habit.
You can read about these studies here: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/04/advertising.aspx
Still, the perception was that dirty linen was washed abroad. And frankly, the government of Malta represents Malta at any point in time. So there is a fine line.
Doesn’t mean the perception was in any way correct. It’s EU passports being sold, not ‘Maltese’ ones. It’s also in the national interest not to have Malta’s reputation tarnished as it was in order to keep it open to foreign investment, which creates sustainable job creation. We’re already starting to see what the IIP and Jo’s attitude are doing in that regard, and it vindicates Metsola and Casa’s position.
Regarding government representation, it in no way means that the government always acts in the interests of its people and that MEPs could act against it. They are accountable to the electorate and working at the supranational level. The government should serve the national interest, but it’s hardly the only one that can objectively interpret what that entails.
The proper representative of Malta is the President, not the government.
Metsola and Casa criticised government policy, not Malta.
The government is there to serve its people, not rule over it.
The European Parliament is not ‘abroad’. It is an intrinsic part of Malta’s political landscape.
More damage is done to Malta’s reputation by anti-democratic thinking and behaviour than by exercising democratic rights and obligations.
What nonsense is this? Are we bound by omertà? Don’t you realise that the European Parliament provides us with protection against illogical and anti democratic behaviour that plagues MLP history?
How I wish someone washed our “dirty linen” when Mintoff suspended the constitutional court.
Please do not try and justify your “floating” behaviour and the irrationality of the Maltese electorate. It insults the intelligence of those who see through the fraudulent behaviour of Labour governments.
So according to you, if the government makes mistakes as were made in the IIP scheme which was later amended due to pressure of our MEPS, should just stay put and not say anything?
I would have thought that the best thing would have been for the PN to explain clearly and in a way that even the most ignorant would understand, why the two MEPs had to resort to the EU to exercise pressure on government to amend the IIP scheme.
It’s not where the dirty linen was washed, it is WHO dirtied the linen to begin with!
What absurdly wrong ideas. The government doesn’t represent anyone. It is itself. It represents itself. What then of MEPs? They don’t even represent their political party, but their constituents. Now if their constituents want them to kick up a fuss about the sale of passports, then that’s what they should do, and they did. For once, our MEPs were earning their massive salaries.
And people like you chime in to complain. Go back under your rock and keep voting Ivan Grech Mintoff.
It is not the first time that labour washed dirty linen abroad in the past. So why is it now wrong to make presentation in our European Parliament against something which make our face read.
If Metsola and Casa have been accused of washing the dirty linen abroad, then by direct inference it was Joseph Muscat who soiled that linen in the first place.
What Muscat is saying is that now he has a free hand to do what he likes with revenues from the sale of citizenship.
Democracy with universal suffrage is based on two assumptions: a well-informed, educated and free-thinking electorate, and an inquisitive, active free press.
We don’t have any of the two.
Was it not Joseph Muscat who voted against the interest of our country when he tried to block funds from reaching us? Is not a person who works against the interest of his country a traitor by fact and deed?
What else needs to be proven. Set a traitor to catch a traitor.
The majority of Maltese and Gozitan voters believe Metsola and Casa had worked against Malta`s interest when they associated themselves with European MEPs and voted against MALTA in the Eurooean parliament. The resolution , if I remember correctly, mentioned MALTA and not the Maltese government.
Joseph Muscat dangled the carrot by sending the cheques for refund of the registration tax and not because of Metsola and Casa. Votes can be bought and sold.
Hey Eddy, where is your iced bun?
Well, Mr. Privitera, the majority did not believe that the cash for citizenship was a matter of national interest to begin with, according to a few polls. Bear in mind that this grand scheme was kept under wraps until some time after Labour’s accession to power.
And if I recall correctly, the resolution did not specifically mention Malta. The Maltese government’s plan was of course its raison d’être, but it also forbids other countries from coming up with any similar ideas.
The resolution referred to the Maltese government, Eddy: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+MOTION+P7-RC-2014-0015+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
Ara! Mela ħarġuk mil-gaġġa!
You can’t be serious. The Maltese government proposed the Bill and the Maltese parliament voted in favour of it. That means the MALTA adopted the infamous law. Of course the resolution mentions Malta. What else was it supposed to mention?
It is the government and parliament that let Malta down. Metsola and Casa were elected to defend the interests of their electorate not of Malta. It is the government’s job to defend Malta’s interests and reputation by, for example, not proposing such insane laws in the first place.
Hey Eddy, how come you are not on the sticker album?
The switchers are there, the new ‘steal’ soldier is there as are many who have suddenly overtaken you in Joseph’s eyes.
You seem to be the only one Joseph’s forgotten. You don’t deserve an iced bun – you deserve a whole bakery but then why should anyone give you anything when you’re so prepared to do it for free.
P.S. Don’t take this badly. I’m just helping you get noticed.
Eddy, gabuhomlok id-dar il-pilloli?
I have nothing in common with the majority of the people. I can’t relate to these people. I feel dejected with this result. Although it is a knockout blow the PN must stay on the right course. The good will prevail, always.
The good doesn’t always prevail as you can see, but yes the PN should stick to its guns and hope for the best.
The list is getting longer and longer,
Facist. homophobic,inconsistint,stupid,and now irrational and childish among some others,
I accept that you have gone through quite some hard times yourself but but rest assured that if you knew what I had to pass through at the hands of my FRiends, you would surely think otherwise of me.
I feel exactly the same. I am sad not because the PN lost, but because of the reasons why it lost.
Labour supporters only wanted to confirm their faith in the PL government. They did not care a hoot that these were European Parliament elections.
They do not care about anything as long as they perceive a government that is always dishing out money and state jobs galore.
They think their time will come when they too will get what they want eventually and to hell with Malta’s economy.
What is sad is that during the past year, the P.N.did not manage to bring back any of the ,who some call, switchers.
This is what and why the P.N. should come to grips with, but of course they must put aside their arrogance.
Yes both Messola and Casa betrayed their country and I’m sure in days gone by they would have been put up against the wall. It was nothing but treason.
[Daphne – The main reason the PN couldn’t bring back some of those switchers, Mr Loporto, is because they are people like you who despite age and education remain irrational and childish, and who use all kinds of excuses to rationalise what is, essentially, sulking.]
Maybe lost in the short term. The 80k that did not vote (and some who went fringe like me) will have a huge bearing come elections 2018. It would be a different story then.
[Daphne – Please would you write a brief guest post about why you voted for Norman Lowell in this EP election. I think lots of people would be interested in reading your views.]
I am sure that the truth will prevail.
The only concern is not to lose our country and well being in general in the process.
With all due respect, life is not a Disney movie. Do you think ‘the Good’ prevailed in North Korea or Libya?
For the Good to prevail, we must, forgive the expression, stand up and be counted. We must learn about this country’s political history to the letter and fight back the propagation of misinformation in this country.
The problem is there is so little time to do all this and we leave it all in the hands of one woman and this blog.
Unfortunately people are social animals, and the majority go with the herd. The problem is not so much that the party is not convincing people to vote, but rather its own supporters are not convincing people to vote.
Then again, PN ma hax hsieb in-nies tieghu … so whoever sticks out his neck is on his own.
Case in point – my mother who is a very hard worker lost her good position over petty office politics and the PN didn’t help. We never asked for favours or anything, and we always worked for whatever we needed, but here we needed help.
Instead we were met with snobbery and referrals. Then you find some idiot who can barely read and write, doesn’t do their job and because he votes Labour and has a job for life – wasting his time and other people’s.
From one extreme to the other – the PN should stop clowning around, educate its people (including me; I am ignorant of certain things) find the middle ground and maybe then this country can get a proper government. The PN need to get in contact with the people again.
We all voted PN, but only because we hate Labour and know they will eventually bring the country to its knees with their qziz, thuggery, alignment with dictatorships and recklessness.
‘The PN need to get in contact with the people again.’
Ginger, while I agree wholeheartedly with your remark you do understand that meeting 100,000 people means meeting 68 different persons every day 7 days a week for the next 4 years.
You also realise the impossibility of such a task.
Might I suggest that it’s the people who ought to make contact, preferably get involved and repay a Party that notwithstanding all its faults, over 25 years gave us a standard of living we all take for granted today.
It’s not impossible bob-a-job. What matters is organisation.
That implies system, process, analysis, category, weight.
Trust PBO to screw it up.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130924/local/-No-need-for-call-as-Sai-Mizzi-is-specialised-.487438
Time has moved on. The PL has moved on but the PN remains bogged down in the same gutter hole – and that is how it will remain as long as people like you remain active within its ranks. When will the idiot Simon Busuttil realise that until such a time as he eliminates liabilities like Beppe Fenech Adami, fatso George Pullicino, insidious Jason Azzopardi, Anne Fenech, Norman Vella and many other creeps, he is always going to be the fall-guy and will sink with a continually sinking ship. You won’t upload this but at least you’ll get the message.
[Daphne – Odd you should say that, Albert, because it’s precisely the fact that Labour acts as a magnet for embittered weirdo freaks like you that makes it alien to people like me who take note of this fact. And if Labour can pull votes with Mintoff’s dinosaurs on board, plus an assembly of avaricious cretins on its ballot-sheet, then surely the quality of people in the PN is not the issue.]
Albert, I gather that you don’t view Silvio Parnis, Luciano Busuttil, Toni Abela, and several others as liabilities. I envy your intellect.
Prosit lil-Labour Party tar-rebha w bilhaqq lis-switchers ukoll ghax l-investiment taghhom qieghed jrendi.
A vote for them was a vote of defiance to Joseph Muscat. But mainly from already staunch PN voters. On the other hand, one cannot know if those that voted fringe far right parties or abstained outright would have voted Metsola or Casa had they not did what they did. Think with your head, and not with emotions.
It seems we are all misfits
…or we happen to abstain from supporting criminals.
Ghax il-votanti tal-PN jigu jaqghu u jqumu mill-pajjiz. Minghalihom li Metsola u Casa ghamlu xi bravura fi Brussel. L-aqwa l-but u l-pjaciri. Dan rajnieh f’amministrazzjoniet nazzjonalisti precedenti. Nothing new.
Min ghandu rasu fuq ghonqu qallu lil PN kemm ghamlu tajjeb Metsola u Casa.
It is about time that the PN should start the process of identifying a strong female candidate to replace Dr. Busuttil at the helm. I believe that this is the only way forward for the PN.
Simon is too negative. He should have:
– accepted the Sale of Citizenship in its undiluted form;
– turned Engerer from hero to super hero;
– proposed that every minister’s wife is given a job with a salary equivalent to that of Mrs Konrad Mizzi;
– proposed that every Labour backbencher’s government-generated income tops that of a minister;
– proposed that the individuals who corrupted the Enemalta officials are granted Gieh ir-Repubblika;
– encouraged Michelle Muscat to open business outlets in London, Paris and Milan in addition to that in New York;
– endorsed all the prime minister’s dealings negotiated behind the people’s back with undemocratic regimes who fund his campaigns;
– proposed to extend Willie Mangion et al’s contracts indefinitely;
– suggested that the next Commissioner of Police is promoted from the lower ranks provided that he doesn’t earn more than five promotions within a six monthly period.
Way to go, Simon.
But what Muscat says is repeated over and over until the rabble believe it to be fact.
Selling Maltese citizenship = Good.
Defending Malta’s integrity = Bad.
And it becomes a mantra….
To all those who keep criticising Simon Busuttil, do we really need a Labour MP to tell us this?
Marlene Farrugia in The Malta Independent today:
“When one keeps in mind that (Busuttil) is the man who singlehandedly convinced the majority of the nation to vote in favour of EU accession and thus got us into the EU ten years ago, and that it is the same Simon Busuttil who got more than 68,000 personal votes in one such MEP election, it becomes obvious that his individual potential is there, but will only start giving results when a total shake up of the PN happens, when PN strategy departs permanently from negative territory and when his colleagues unite firmly behind him.”
I don’t care much for all the positive and negative language but totally agree with the rest of what she says. It is the people around Busuttil who need to be shaken up or shown the door. He had a great team around him in Brussels. Get your own people back, Simon, and trust your instinct more.
PN needs a leader.
People are fed up with the same faces.
[Daphne – Actually, they’re not. If people were fed up of the same faces, they would not have voted in a party of old faces from the 1980s. If people were fed up of the same faces, Marie Louise Coleiro would not he head of state, Il-Guy would not be in line for EU Commissioner, Alfred Sant would not be an MEP, Alex Sceberras Trigona would not be permanent representative at the World Trade Organisation, Joe Grima would not be special envoy to the World Tourism Organisation, and Louis Grech would not be deputy prime minister. I will stop listing the (very) old faces there because I still have a lot of comments queued up to be looked at and it’s late at night already.]
OK, one must admit that Busuttil inherited a sinking ship. However with issues such as the Engerer case, the Henley and power station contracts, the gas tanker in Marsaxlokk, the iced buns etc, one would have thought that the PN could at least have narrowed the gap. But floating voters won’t accept certain faces connected to the past, such as Beppe Fenech Adami and Mario Demarco in the leadership team (even if they are competent without any doubt).
And to be honest, Simon Busuttil was a non starter from the beginning. We used to say let’s give him tim, but I think this “time” will translate into years, maybe 15, by which time Busuttil would certainly have been replaced.
Another point is as well the conflict of interest some PN officials have, and not only: how can they talk about the Henley issue, when they themselves are agents?
[Daphne – I agree with you entirely on that one. They undermine themselves.]
I know some PN supporters (if not outright activists) that are cashing in from this so called “mega scandal”.
I’m sure PN supporters are very intelligent, and I’m afraid that’s the reason for the way they voted (or remained home) last Saturday.
One doesn’t have to look at what the PL is doing, but also at what the PN is up to.
[Daphne – I agree with you entirely on that one. They undermine themselves.]
It’s also called greed.
One must distinguish between core voters and the electorate at large. Core voters tend to vote for figures that best represent their party (as they see it), so such figures get strong personal votes.
Simon Busuttil’s personal tally was far higher than that of Joseph Muscat in the last EP elections (possibly because he was viewed as a proxy for the leader himself) but it would have been a mistake to read too much into that (same applies to Alfred Sant’s personal showing this time round).
You’re right that Muscat’s argument is unsound, but it seems that the PN continues to underestimate him.
The Prime Minister is basically a political nerd, as are many of his closest collaborators like Aaron Farrugia. They’re obsessed with Tony Blair, particularly with Blair’s ability to win (nothing to do with Blair’s policies, of course). They have understood the basic rule that parties win when they choose the battle ground and create the narrative.
The Nationalists have failed to understand this, or failed to address this because they have been a party without a central cause since 2003/4. This allows a mediocre government to win the argument time and again because the PN is constantly playing defence in the PR game.
Basically, they need to stop apologising, blow their own trumpet, and decide what they’re about. They should also realise that, if murderous scum like Mintoff can be rehabilitated, they might have some positive history of their own to work into the political narrative. They could start by reading this blog rather than (again) apologising for its tone.
Jien ma naqtax qalbi. Din mhix telfa imma twissija.
Il-bniedem tul il-mixja tieghu dejjem ghamel zbalji u hallas qares ghalijhom. Persuna (sinister) bhall juri r-redikolagni li jista jaqa fih il-Partit Laburista u kull min tah il-vot.
Dawn suppost jafu li kull ma mess b’ idejh irrovinah. Dawn jafu li Sant irnexxielu bil-genn li ghandu jitfa il-Partit Laburista f’ sitwazzjonijiet ghar milli kienu qabel.
Il-vot tal-bierah juri li l-Laburist fil-maggoranza tieghu huwa partiggjan bhal li kieku jaghti support lil xi team tal-football.
Unjoni Ewropea ma jafx x’ inhi. Il-kwalita tal-hajja li sissa ghad ghandna jahseb li ma tista tintilef qatt.
Kif nghidu , kull deni hudu b’ gid. L-injorant dejjem ghereq, u meta jghereq hadd ma jhoss xejn. Ghalekk dan hu zmien ta’ riflessjoni. Li insir hamallu bhal Laburisiti biex nattira l-voti QATT. Il-principji huma dawk li jaghmluna poplu decenti.
With the kind of mentality rampant with the ignorant majority they must believe that they are somewhere in line to receive benefits according to the revised rules of meritocracy.
If Metsola and Casa are traitors now because they have opposed the citizenship scheme, what was Joe Muscat then when he opposed the funding from Brussels for the Sant Antnin recycling plant.
However the Nationalists never called him a traitor, as this is not part of their vocabulary.
I want to congratulate Daphne and some of her more extreme admirers who comment on this blog, for giving a good helping hand to the PL in its second historic bashing of the PN !
Kemm int bniedem patetiku – avolja ma nafekx. L-ewwel tigi hawn tghid l-opinjoni tieghek, u ghax sibt lil min jiccalingja l-argumenti tieghek, flok irribattejt bl-argumenti, tigi taghmel kumment bhal dan.
Din mhix l-ewwel darba tieghek. Mela x’tigi taghmel hawn thuf fuq dal-blog? Ma hadtux diga s-sodifazzjon tieghek, jew gejt biex minghalik tkompli tahraqna?
Kulmin ghandu rasu fuq ghonqu u ma jghixx fis-shab seta’ jinduna mis-sondaggi tal-ahhar gimghat li Muscat kien ghadu bicca sew ‘il fuq minn Busuttil. Naturalment, dan gie rifless fil-voti tal-elezzjoni li ghadha kif ghaddiet.
Well you should know, Eddy.
Your party has been bashed for the past 25 years.
How can one contradict such an expert.
Seems you are in for your 25 years bashing my friend.
Eddy, ma hadtomx kolla l-pilloli?
Privitera,
ghalfejn rebha tal-Labour tissarraf fis-swat tal-avversarju? Mbaghad tisthajlu li l-pajjiz jista jimxi ‘l quddiem.
Kieku qatt smajt xi hadd mill-kamp Nazzjonalista jitkellem hekk.
Mhux bilfors it-transfers, jekk lanqas tifhmuha din?
ma niskantax li jsir kumment vojt, u min ghand min? min ghandek! turi li il borom vojta ghadhom jaghmlu hafna hoss.
Biex tigi tifrah qisek haga bela qed turi kemm int ghadek lura. Qed turi li ghalik il politika loghoba football.
Anqas irrid nithassrek ghax inkun qed nahli l attenzjoni fuq bniedem baxx u injorant.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140526/local/vote-counting-halted-after-pn-protest-on-formula-workings.520658
This is what kept voters like me at home, dear Simon Busuttil. I have had enough of hearing whining and crying for everything!
This is not the PN I know and the lack of ideas is showing and we’re mocking ourselves.
We need a change in leadership FAST! Until then, I’m not casting my vote again.
I really feel that the electoral defeat report was never taken seriously – voting confirms that.
http://www.inewsmalta.com/dart/20140526-se-tibda-tin-amm-statistika-approssimattiva-dwar-ix-xiri-mill-internet
Ala? Biex jerga jkollna restrizzjonijiet ta’ kemm nonfqu barra minn malta? kif kenna fis-70s u 80s?
Araw id-differenza.
Matteo Renzi, thobbu jew tobghodu, kisser l-avversarji tieghu. Gab aktar mid-doppju tat-tieni partit.
Kellu kull cans, brizultat bhal dak jghid bhal ma qal Muscat (din sfida bejni u bejn il-leaders l-ohra).
Imma’xqal? “Il premier: non era un referendum su di me”.
http://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/politica/2014/notizia/renzi-speranza-ha-battuto-rabbia_2047230.shtml
I agree. They are the two that stood their ground and pushed for reason to prevail and that is the reason why people voted for them.
It is also the reason why so many people voted for Labour, because they are not “traitors” to Malta (read Labour Party) and want someone like him in Brussels to push Muscat’s message.
I also think that Muscat had promised Sant that he would be able to contest the MEP elections a few years ago to get him on side. Funnily enough I don’t remember hearing much from the Labour candidates during the run up to the election. How on earth did people know what they were voting for?
They knew they were voting Labour. For Labour voters, that is an end in itself.
I am sad because I know that it will be a long time for people to switchers to realise what they have supported. It would take a generation to get used to the norm.
I was looking at Norman Lowell’s votes district by district and with the exception of Gozo he averaged around 500 votes per district. So we can conclude that we have an equal distribution of racists in Malta.
I think that Simon Busuttil wasted his time explaining to people about the salaries of the minister`s wife and the rest. This was not the issue in this election.
The Nationalist switchers are still ‘hurt’. The Nationalist Party has to change mentality and go to positive mode.
People have had enough of propaganda, stupidity etc.. and both parties should learn how to pull a rope together, if they really want the best for the country.
This is what I thought is going to happen when Labour won the general election, at least that is what Joseph Muscat had preached. Malta Taghna Lkoll!
Whining about being hurt won’t win anyone any sympathy. If any whinger voted Labour it is they who owe the rest of us an apology for lumping us all with what they deserve themselves.
“The Nationalist switchers are still ‘hurt’”
U int min qallek li l-i-switchers Nazzjonalisti fejqulhom il-ferita? Dewwewhielhom forsi. Hafna mill-i-switchers ghadhom jittamaw (ghax hekk weghduhom) li se jirrangawlhom. Ghalhekk JM spiss itambar li wettaq terz tal-weghdiet (elettorali). L-i-switchers jahsbu (anzi fi kliem il-Moviment, jemmnu) li taghhom qied fiz-zewg terzi li baqa’.
Kif tispjega li fi ftit aktar minn sena, minkejja l-buzullotti li rajna (u dan jghiduh l-i-switchers ukoll), MA NBIDEL ASSOLUTAMENT XEJN?
Malta tas-“Saints and Fireworks” (b’apologija lil Bossevain): S’issa ghadha kif harget il-vara, u n-nar baqghalu ftit iehor biex jinharaq.
Min lahaq (jew qara dwar) iz-zewg legislaturi ta’ Mintoff wara l-1971 jista’ jifhem x’irrid nghid. Muscat lil Mintoff jadurah mhux biss biex jirbah lura lill-Lejburisti l-antiki.
“The charter emphasises that residents in care homes have the right to dignity, freedom, security and physical and mental wellbeing, as well as the freedom of choice and self-determination.”
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-05-26/news/rights-charter-for-elderly-in-care-homes-published-5182193671/
This Charter should have come into force before the MEP elections.
Another interesting statistic: 2009 EP elections – Labour with Muscat at the helm for 12 months garnered 55% of the vote, following Labour’s defeat with 48% a year earlier.
2014 EP elections – PN with Busuttil at the helm for 14 months got 40%, following PN’s defeat with 43% a year earlier.
Speaks volumes.
I’m at peace with myself and don’t feel angry at anyone about this result.We get what we work for and what we deserve.
The political parties try to instill rivalry between their supporters. Labour manages to bring out the tribalism in its supporters but I see that the PN supporters prefer watching TV debates from their sofas and would not even bother to go out to vote, let alone vote from one to eleven on the PN section of the ballot paper, as the PN repeated ad nauseam.
I suspect that senior strategists who were so beneficial to the PN in its major successful period are not being used now. They would not have issued that stupidity of a Panini album for sure.
I asked RTK about the Charles Xuereb/Godfrey Grima political talk show “L-argument” ( http://www.rtk.org.mt/ondemand.asp?cat=14 – Go to 42:44 ) and was told that the Broadcasting Authority invited Godfrey Grima to participate as a journalist.
I don’t understand why the authority inserted him in a political debate where we would have listened to Alleanza, Imperium Ewropa and Tal-Ajkla. Listeners weren’t interested in his made-up stories and biased opinions, as he was not on the ballot sheet.
So it’s not RTK’s fault.
I expect the PN to take all necessary action so that we would not have any repeats. Godfrey Grima should be considered a persona non grata in the Broadcasting Authority’s programmes. He is not a journalist. When was the last time he wrote any journalism for publication?
Were the PN caught unawares?
Metsola said that 2018 will be crucial. Is she hinting that she is aiming for the party leadership following the 2018 general election defeat?
I think that could be the right time for a younger-than-Muscat female leader to go head-to-head with him in his second term as prime minister. Busuttil, by then, would have been too weakened to energise the party.
Kemm hawn nies Malta li ma jafux jiktbu u jaqraw? Hamsa u ghoxrin elf?
Kemm minn dawn l-illitterati jafu xi jfisser il-Parlament Ewropej? Kemm hemm minnhom li siefru jew marru jahdmu fl-Ewropa? Iktar ma ikun hemm illitterati iktar jiehu pjacier bihom il-prim ministru.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140526/local/foreign-minister-in-gulf-talks.520711
More details to follow, I suppose.
The main difference between PL and PN is that PL knows what the electorate wants whilst PN knows what the electorate needs.
The fact that PL achieved a resounding victory in the EP elections speaks volumes on how dysfunctional this pathetic society really is.
Honestly, I am fed up hearing about how switchers are still ‘hurt’. Cut the crap, why don’t you. They are not hurt. They like the way Labour are managing the country. They are comfortable with ‘iced-bun’ strategy and they are welcome in the Labour camp as long as they continue to behave like victims of the Nationalists.
I really hope that our dear Joseph Magic Kiosk Cuschieri makes it to Brussels. It’s really not fair if he doesn’t.
At any rate, if he doesn’t make it I have heard that Michelle has suggested to Joseph that he gives up his seat and makes him Prime Minister.
It seems that Michelle is feeling uneasy that she feels somehow obliged to Cuschieri when her husband takes her out for a drive in their family car knowing that the family income per kilometre is all due thanks to Cuschieri.
@ray meilaq
Illitterat ma jfissirx injorant. Nippreferi illitterat umli milli injorant hiereg mill universita.
Mill-esperjenza tiegħi, naf ngħidlek li kien hemm mill-inqas koppja waħda mill-i’switchers’ li jgħallmu l-Universita’ u mingħalihom intelletwali. Fl-aħħar elezzjoni ġenerali xtaqu ‘jagħtu ċans’ lil Joseph; felħu jagħmlu hekk għax mingħalihom fejn qegħdin mhux se jmisshom il-Gvern u t-tfal tagħhom it-tnejn jgħixu barra minn Malta, allura mhux se jkunu affettwati. Issa r-raġel kien studja u għallem l-Istorja qabel, allura timmaġina li suppost għandu idea tal-idolu ta’ Joseph xi jsarraf.
Biex tgħaxxaqha kien imisshom jieħdu ħsieb lill-omm anzjana li tgħix f’dar tal-anzjani meta ġiet biex tivvota. Naf biċ-ċert li gerrxuha, għax kienu jafu li kieku tista’ tesprimiha sew, tkun trid tivvota lin-Nazzjonalisti.
Issa żgur nibqa’ niftakar li aħjar illiterat ġenwin milli injoranza ħierġa mill-Universita’ bħal din.
No matter how “low” I reset my expectations after each election, the average voter in Malta still manages to disappoint me.
With all due respect, I can’t understand how they voted for Metsola. She voted not to back Snowden with the argument that ‘It is not about Edward Snowden. It is about European citizens and their data protection and privacy.’ So, if one is a potential whistle blower, how is that going to encourage me if I won’t be protected as an individual?