The front-runners for Labour/PN in terms of the No. 1 vote
Wig Wham: the people’s choice, with 51,000 votes.
Alfred Sant with 51,000+ votes, followed by Miriam Dalli with 22,00+ votes, and then Marlene Mizzi with 13,000+ votes.
Former prime minister and anti-EU-membership campaigner Sant is the candidate with the overall highest number of No. 1 votes, across all parties.
The man who lost three consecutive general elections and the crucial EU membership referendum to which he had nailed his entire political being is The People’s Choice for the European Parliament.
You really need a strong sense of humour to survive life as a political columnist in Malta, as I have done for 24 years, without suffering total burn-out from the idiosyncrasies.
PN candidate Roberta Metsola has the second highest number of No. 1 votes across all parties, with 32,000+.
David Casa has the second highest number of No. 1 votes for the PN, with 19,000+.
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You need a sense of flexible understanding. The voting population you so deride did not seem Dr. Sant fit for premiership, but fit for the one (out of 800) chair in the EP.
What is so difficult to understand ?
[Daphne – There is no such thing as ‘flexible understanding’. I do not ‘deride’ the ‘voting population’. I describe it, clinically. The fact that you do not like what I describe does not make it wrong or inaccurate, but merely something that annoys you.]
To me it reads as the usual incongruity in the MLP vote. Either that or the MLP voters wanted to serve him a consolation prize.
Either reason is the wrong one for voting someone in but then that’s the norm in a party with no principles.
If as it is said ,Dr.Sant is antiEurope if you add to his 5oooovotes the 8ooo votes that went to the other small parties, you would be right to assume that a large percentage of the voters are what you might call AntiEurope, as if they were for Europe, they would have voted differently.
Are we, perhaps following the British?.
I don’t think it would be right to assume that a large percentage of the voters are anti-Europe.
They are simply brainless and their vote has no bearing on the reason they are voting.
In this case they voted for the people they know. They all know Sant because he was the party leader. And they know Miriam Dalli from being a pretty-face on the Labour Party’s television station. In the former case, at least the man may have some idea of national issues, etc., but in the latter?
i posted several replies yesterday but none was posted
that says a lot about your understanding of others opinions and
beliefs
i hope you will continue your blog , because it does nothing but
aleniate people from the pn. you should rename it blog for the pn hardcore
[Daphne – I uploaded every single one of your comments. If a comment is deleted, you get a message saying so. If a comment is still awaiting moderation, ditto. If you receive no message and your comment is no longer hanging there, it means it’s been uploaded.]
There is no doubt about it. Malta’s EU membership hangs in the balance.
As long as the IIP scheme is up and running, EU membership will not hang in the balance.
Nonsense , how can they sell passports out of it.
Not until 2017. Muscat wants the presidency. Once that is over, then yes.
I think the reason why Alfred Sant was induced to contest the election was to attract the vote of the eurosceptics who still constitute a sizable chunk of Labour voters.
Those who voted against EU membership in 2003 now had a chance to vote again for the same politician who had proposed “partnership”.
What do they care that this was an election for the European Parliament? If it’s Alfred Sant they will vote for him, anyway.
Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise.
There is a lot that has happened yesterday that deserves serious consideration by the intelligent – common sense people still living on this island.
First and foremost, the great majority of votes won by PL is indeed shocking: apart from the fact that this was not deserved for all the bad things they’ve done in the last 14 months (no need to repeat), the PL is just promising to continue with their current plans, which pave way to further Malta Taghna lkoll ‘hnizrijiet.’
Secondly, Lowell’s 6,000 plus votes will surely re-enforce Joseph Muscat’s threatening pushback idea. Apart from the fact that 6,000 plus followers of Lowell is ‘per se’ a threat for this country that might one day cost us more than taking care of irregular migrants, having Lowell defined as a politician is both tragic and nonsense.
Thirdly, PN needs to do some detailed soul-searching exercise since this result is largely a reflection of what happened just fourteen months ago. I’m more than convinced that a good part of the 25% and others who didn’t turn up to vote are disgruntled PN supporters. These need to be contacted, allowing them to discuss their issues and perceptions, as well as helping them to feel comfortable both with the new PN leadership and within the party.
People voted for Labour, so deal with it. Yes, the Labour party did bad things in the last 14 months, but so does every government. Truth is that most people are better off and the recent elections were a positive sign to Labour to continue on their current path.
I think that people who do not believe that this government has also done a lot of good is simply in denial. This government is full of energy and will continue so for 4 more years. Many people are already feeling the benefits of this government – and not only the ones of ‘Tal-Klikka’.
The result leave no doubt about it. Bring a foreign analyst and he will arrive to the same conclusion. But some people are still living in denial. Look at the Times’ editorial. It almost cannot accept that PL can ‘govern’, and for them this result is almost all poor Simon’s fault.
The truth is, in some cases, there was little that Simon Busuttil could have done. Yesterday I came to pity him a bit. For people who struggle to make ends meet, receiving a refund handout and considerable decrease in utility bills, well, it left no room for choice. What else? Such a majority cannot be wrong.
So I also think that the PL did some bad things, but also good things. But what is good for some is insignificant for others, and vice versa. I also hear that the day care centres were well received, as also the automatic granting of refunds without the need for queueing.
It’s these things that won PN elections in the past, mainly under Fenech Adami administrations, rather than bragging about a ‘skola fis-sena’ (a good thing in itself, if only it is what education requires).
Whether this will continue for the next 4 years remains to be seen. It all depends on whether it remains sustainable or these were just pre-electoral stunts. Whether it will go up to their heads and continue to do the ‘bad things of the last 4 months’, or correct them.
hnizrijiet ghamlu austin gatt tonio fenech beppe tal pompi tal petrol kemm ghqandkom memorja qasira
il poplu ivvita kif ivvita ghax iddejaq bil hnizrijiet tal pnne
Wouldn’t it be interesting to calculate the result of this election like Alfred Sant himself interpreted the EU referendum result and turned it into a pseud-victory for Partnership?
I would not imagine that the honourable neo-elected MEP would like that. He will probably come out shouting foul.
Following Sant and Muscat’s line of reasoning, the PL scored an absolute minority in this election. 54% of 74.9% is just over 40%. Hardly an overwhelming endorsement, in other words, and nothing to boast about if it doesn’t return a fourth seat.
Wig Wham….you have learnt nothing yet.
[Daphne – I am not a politician or a political party, Floater, and in my own particular field of endeavor I don’t have that much to learn, which is why I am still here and you are still reading me along with the whole new generation of readers that I have accumulated. You make the usual foolish mistake of failing to understand that the imperatives which drive a politician are not those which drive a writer.]
What is it that the PN are supposed to have learnt?
It’s strange how you and others like you refuse to go any further with that statement.
However, it is common in Malta for people of certain belief and attitudes towards democracy to refuse to tell the PN about any problems or difficulties because they see it as informing the enemy, and would rather tell all to the PL and give them ammo.
The last time that happened, Floater, we ended 10 years down the line on the brink of civil war, the country in chaos. Have you learnt nothing yet?
Do not exaggerate Edward. First of all I was addressing DCG and not the PN, but is not your fault that you associate PN with DCG. It happens automatically. However and whatever impression one wants to give, this site is semi-officially endorsed by the PN. And whatever is written here, has a bearing on the PN.
[Daphne – To people of your mindset, yet. But then 7,000 people (at least) think that Norman Lowell is sane – or worse, voted for him despite knowing that he is not. Edward does not associate me with the PN. He knows me personally.]
I am not denying the right to freedom of expression and even going down personal. But these bring antipathies, and have a somewhat ‘electoral’ consequences, and more. Now, you will blame the electorate and not the writer for this. Even if this is a wrong analysis, it is besides the point.
Insults are insults and are bad. One can hide behind a journalistic licence, in an infantile manner, and cry foul when someone lose patience and retaliates. (as if not all people are human). Still, this is wrong and counter-productive. People will sympathise with the provoked, and not the provoker. And this, not only in Malta. This is not lack of democracy. Democracy entails responsibility and decency.
[Daphne – Make use of your EU passport, Floater, and spend some time in Britain. Or Italy. Or for that matter, France. Or Germany. Insults are part and parcel of politics, and if insults caused electors to sympathise with the insulted, Lawrence Gonzi would still be prime minister.]
Don’t mind us, Floater. If you want to snap out a smart Fascist salute, please go ahead.
I give up trying to understand how on earth we came to this.
I suppose one can say that all these celebration are thanks to us who voted YES for EU.
Thanks to Eddie Fenech Adami and Simon Busuttil for their hard work over the years.
Let’s wait and see what Sant contribution is going to give to the country. My prediction is not much. His CV is not all that brilliant.
Do not forget that once he (Alfred Sant) listed sleeping as one of his hobbies, so most probably he is going to the EU to practise his hobby.
i would love to see YOUR cv
Maybe people voted for him because they’re feeling nostalgic.
Partnership lahjar ghazla..
“The man who lost three consecutive general elections and the crucial EU membership referendum to which he had nailed his entire political being is The People’s Choice for the European Parliament.”
That doesn’t surprise me. The carcades along Fond Ghadir this afternoon included at least one car playing “Partneship, l-Ahjar Ghazla” full blast, and a number of cars waving Maltese flags – not Labour flags in tandem with EU ones, but just Maltese flags. There wasn’t one EU flag in sight.
Next step? Labour will pull Malta out of the EU, but not before 2018, so Muscat would have yet another ‘important’ photo for the family album.
Wouldn’t it be great?
All those Chinese billionaires having to come and live here.
They’re not coming to live here. That was never the plan.
Waqt ic-celebrazzjonijiet quddiem il-Kwartieri Generali Laburista ma kienx hemm bandiera wahda Ewropea?
Dawn jafu ghal xiex ivvutaw jew?
Kien hemm wahda ezatt f’nofs il-merhla.
Kien hemm wahda BISS,u il- cameraman kellu bicca battikata mhux hazin biex jinkwadrha waqt it-tejatrin ta’ Muscat mil- gallarija.
Veru kien hemm wahda imma mbghad sparixxiet. Forsi regghu tawha n-nar.
My thoughts exactly.
Gorg, erga ara is servizz, ghax iva kien hemm bandiera ta eu.
Kien hemm bandiera waħda f’baħar aħmar.
Idiosyncrasies? They’re more like insanities.
It’s our fault for playing the Maltese naked emperor game. He should have been told to go f*ck himself long ago.
I had to study one of his books for the Maltese A level and I can safely assume that he does a great job when it comes to writing plays and stories, but not so much as a politician.
If only he sticked to writing after Joseph Muscat became the leader of PL, we wouldn’t be dealing with this mess now.
This alone should be enough to convince the PN that relying on the people’s intelligence simply won’t cut it.
As one of my lecturers at university once taught us, some people would rather die than think. I now understand how right he was.
Perhaps this has all got to do with the fact that an overwhelming number of Maltese people don’t develop emotionally past their teenage years, as you’ve often noted, Daphne.
It’s normal for a teen to crave conformity, and to be one with crowd, but when an adult discards their brains to make room for whatever garbage their political leaders want to stuff it with…it’s quite worrying indeed.
The Nationalists are right to stand firm in the face of ignorance. There may be few of us who voted for them, but we must stand firm in our belief in democracy. We must not give up.
Behind those votes there doesn’t lie a need for change or a choice for the better. Behind those votes are many parking bays, building permits and jobs from nowhere for nothing. Behind those votes are simple, single interests of people who still don’t quite understand what democracy is or how it is supposed to work.
In Malta there exists a mentality, a down side of our political culture that is responsible for all this. We take it for granted in such a social capital heavy country, but it is our weakness and was our downfall in the past.
Thanks to Mintoff, today there is the habit of leaving too much up to the Minister in charge. Mintoff weakened our civil servants- who are technically the real people who run the country- and turned the democratic system on its head, making the Minister the one who decides everything. This is not the correct way of doing things, but since when did Mintoff do things correctly?
This means that, even today, many choices are made, or seen to be made, at the Minister’s discretion. This is wrong. We should not have to fill out a form, plead our case for, say a parking bay near our home for our sick parent, and then hope to God that the person reviewing our application decides in our favour. On the contrary, we should have- in this case- a list of reasons why one is given a parking bay and you tick the box, provide the proof and….wait for it….you get it.
The truth is that the culture of having certain choices left in the hands of a Minister messes with our problem solving skills and our perception of government. When up against an obstacle, or afraid to be in competition with someone, the first thing people do is think of who is at the top of X organisation or Ministry and work their way down, asking for a favour.
The Nationalists were often reluctant to give in to this culture, and there was a slow move away from it. However it was not a deliberate move at all, and it was too late anyway.
Due to this situation there are many informal networks in Malta based on family relations, where you live, school, social circle and other social capital that one might gain throughout their life.
Because of these informal networks separate societies are formed, each one very close knit and behind barriers that are not as impermeable as one might think. You know that “other Malta”? That’s what I mean.
The truth is that no one in Malta experiences Malta the same way. My experience of Malta is different to that of about half of the population. This is wrong, and should be stopped not promoted.
The Labour Party are a change, but not an improvement. They are bringing back a culture and reinforcing a habit we should be working against.
We saw, after last election, endless lines of people outside the homes and offices of Labour Ministers waiting to see the Minister. One Minister was so inundated by his constituents that he had to move home, if I remember correctly. This is ridiculous! How undemocratic!
We need to move towards a society where everyone faces the same experience of government, with no exception, to make Malta a more egalitarian and fair society and strengthen the democratic spirit. We need a stronger and better trained civil service which does not get thrown out by a new government. That is what we should be aiming for, and that is not where Labour are taking us.
The result is, as we can see, no one voting on character, policies, track record or competency. They are voting on personal wants because people think that to get ahead in this country you need a politician somewhere to sort it all out for you. This must stop.
The PN are right to ignore the label of “negative” and keep pushing to force Muscat to respect democracy. They should be worrying about the direction Malta is heading, not their party.
Honestly, if I were Joseph Muscat, tomorrow I would choose a couple of Michelle’s friends and give them a job with a 60,000 euro yearly salary.
I would then pick a couple of ministers’ wives and send them abroad on a salary of 13,000 euro monthly.
Honestly, I would. La l-poplu kuntent hekk, inpaxxih u nitpaxxa.
They didn’t ignore the whole “negative” spin. If anything they kept trying to justify how “positive” they are being.
The problem is that they are letting Muscat determine the agenda.
I wish they would ignore these keywords, be negative when they have to be and focus on the rebuilding of the party.
Busuttil inherited a mess. Whilst Gonzi focused on steering the country through the economic crisis, no one took care of the party itself.
The biggest proof that the party itself was not corrupt is the fact that it is in financial dire straits. Contrast this with the financially buoyant Labour Party.
Busuttil had to start rebuilding from minus zero and in the meantime has to watch out for those waiting for him to trip up.
The calibre of candidates Busuutil managed to convince to contest these elections says a lot about him. I hope he can continue to garner their support for the PN and create a strong team around him. He needs one for there is no doubt that the people he does have at the moment just dont have what it takes.
100,000 is many. Not enough, definitely, but not just ‘a few’.
Well said.
You are so right in what you said, that the first action taken by this Prime Minister was to throw out all the permanent secretaries, despite their title, which confirms, or rather used to confirm, that a permanent secretary should remain in his place to assist the new prime minister or minister. What probably happened in this case was that Joe Muscat had no idea where to start and he took the advice of the man he appointed as head of the civil service, an ex G.W.U. top man.
After today’s result I believe that the way I think and see politics does not hold anymore.
The majority of people want a totalitarian state; people just love the culture of a one-man show.
Despair, give up, people or else fly out of this country. The real Labour show is yet to begin.
Now we will start facing reality.
The government can’t keep all these unsustainable promises while increasing employment in the public sector and the economy is shrinking.
Democracy will only produce the right result if (i) the average competence of the electorate is greater than 50% and (ii) voters are motivated by the common good rather than self-interest or spite.
Wow! Then Labour won 99% of the votes and not only 53%!
I don’t agree that he is the People’s choice. He is the PL supporters’ choice. I for one didn’t vote for him or for the PL.
The sad thing is that many of those who voted didn’t exactly know what they voted for and they voted for Sant all because he was once their ‘mexxej’ before Joseph Muscat.
I suspected that he was going to be elected but to be the one with the most votes is another thing and it doesn’t give me hope for many Maltese people’s way with politics.
I am afraid that with Dr Simon Busuttil as leader the PN will never win. I think down the line the PN will realize this but the longer they take the more harm will be done.
There is just no charisma in the man. I call him ‘miskin’ which can mean a lot in Maltese.
I again voted Alternativa. I believe they will grow stronger. We are always late here. We only just started to appreciate the environment.
Anyway what is all this fuss, to elect people and make them rich?
The Greens are not all solely for the environment. They have other matters arising on their agenda of which they hardly speak.
There is one idiomatic expression in Maltese which, more than any other, sums up Sant succinctly in the circumstances.
Veru wiccu qieghed.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140525/local/supporters-feel-labour-is-on-the-right-track.520577
Tal-wahx. A collection of shiny pebbles is brighter than this lot.
Again just about 40 per cent vote in Europe (and in some countries it is compulsory). Here we have a stinking 6 MEPs and we make all this fuss.
One can tell how much we have interesting things and ideas to talk about in this country.
I am from the south but I will be honest and admit that where there are more educated people (Sliema etc.) – it seems the trend is like the rest of Europe.
In time all Malta will be like that.
I agree with those who are less than happy with the apparently irrational behaviour and lack of principles of so many voters.
But, on the other hand, that’s the Maltese electorate for you; it’s what we have to work with. This is the stony soil in which the PN must plant its ideas and hope they grow and bear fruit.
That, for a generation, the PN has managed to do just that is a remarkable achievement and a testimony to the extraordinary skill, patience and determination of successive leaders and party officials.
In a way, we are back to the 1980s (minus the physical violence, thankfully) so the PN must rediscover and find inspiration from the political struggle of those years, starting with Eddie’s “battle for minds”.
The party’s administration has still not managed to organise its hundreds of volunteers and forge them into the formidable force they were in the 1980s. Nowadays there is too much office work and not enough fieldwork, too much planning and not enough implementing.
No amount of expensive billboards and text messaging can replace the good, old-fashioned, face-to-face canvassing. And that doesn’t cost money.
So now I’ve got six sets of numbers in front of me, being the results of the last 6 elections, 3 legislative and 3 European, the last based on a sample of 4400 votes, which is presumably not subject to any significant variation. (Candidates votes have been rounded to the nearest 100 votes)
This sample now shows PN at 41.61% (103700), MLP at 53.13% (132400), AD at 2.49% (6200) and the Crazy & Nasty at 2.77% (6900)
One fact that is apparent is that for a fee I can take requests. The requests being, kindly spin these figures as a positive/negative/neutral result for x/y/z.
The reality, as a PN supporter, or more accurately one who believes that the Labour Party is a corrupt abomination from the sewers of hell that contaminates all it touches and that the PN is the only viable countermeasure to this abomination, is that I am obviously not happy.
Should I have expected any different?
Not a lot, given the funds at the PN’s disposal and Labour’s year in government solely focussed on buying votes, pleasing the core, and sweeping the countries problems under the carpet or making them worse, whether by action or inaction.
Do I think Simon Busuttil should go?
Not sure.
Did I want him there in the first place?
Ditto. What is certain is that someone who knows he is taking on a disastrous situation and accepts to return from his MEP position to become deputy leader of a party about to suffer its greatest loss in sixty years is due a little more consideration than is normal, although I think that politics is no place for nice boys.
Was the campaign too negative, assuming there was one in the first place?
No & No. More accurately, I think it was too half hearted. I’ve often said I think Daphne is far too mild in her criticism of Labour so you can imagine how I feel about the PN and NET TV. I disagree with those who say Daphne damages the PN’s prospects, on the contrary I think we need a few more Daphne’s. For a start, now that he has thrown in his lot with the PN and stood as a candidate, Norman Vella should take the plunge and leave his job with the civil service and join NET. Does he seriously think the courts are going to re-instate him as a presenter on TVM? At most he will get a couple of thousand Euro’s in compensation. This Labour mantra about negativity is a load of utter bollocks. Joe Muscat’s five years in opposition and fourteen months in government (and frankly, the Labour party since 1949) have been an incessant flood of negativity, obstructionism, mudslinging, underhand tactics and general hostility to the PN, both in opposition and in government.
Am I unhappy to the point of depression?
No, definitely not. Let’s look at the numbers themselves. To start with, if one were to be entirely fair, there is no like for like comparison we can make. The best comparison we could make would be the 1999 EU election, one year after the PN won a substantial victory over Labour after a period in opposition. Again it’s not entirely accurate, because the PN has never spent 25 years in opposition. But wait a minute, that election never happened, largely due to the efforts of Alfred Sant, his then poodle Joe Muscat, and their predecessors Mintoff and KMB.
Which leads me to another point, how dumb do you have to be to vote Labour? I have always felt slightly uncomfortable with Daphne’s portrayal of the average Maltese, but the more time goes by, the more I find myself coming round to her position. Joseph Muscat spends ten years campaigning to keep us out of the EU and at some point he has an epiphany and decides (or claims to decide) that it was a good idea after all, effectively giving himself (and his party) an idiot certificate. (George Vella has recently done the same and earned his own certificate). Having therefore decided that their party is now a pro-EU party who want us to be the best in Europe, they put forward as their number one candidate the most anti-EU person in Malta. And those Labourites who voted Yes in the 2003 referendum and PN in the 2004 election happily go along with this, vote for him in droves, and are now busy gloating on Facebook. Idiots.
Anyway, the next best thing we can compare to is the 2009 EU election. And that tells me that on almost identical turnout, the PN has gained circa 3200 votes, Labour has lost 3500 votes, AD have gained 400 votes and Crazy & Nasty have gained 900.
All things being equal, that’s not about to translate into a 2018 electoral victory, but considering what is being compared to what and when, it’s not an utter disaster either. The single biggest problem the PN has is not the message or the people selling it, but the means to sell it, and for that you need funds which the PN does not currently have. That is where most of the recrimination and gnashing of teeth should be directed, and indeed converted into funds. Put your money where your mouth is, literally!
Now I am obviously not happy that Simon’s pre-electoral ‘ghall-gol hajt’ chant is likely to come true, because I live here and do not have significant independent means, but if it’s going to happen anyway, and given the funds to publicise it, a 2018 victory is still doable.
Just a few points on this. Malta did not have very many problems when Joe Muscat took over, but he will create a few new ones, let some old ones get bigger by doing nothing, and actively make some worse.
Here’s a list, slot them in whichever category you like.
The bus service was a problem, but it was exaggerated for political gain. There has been no improvement in the service, if anything a drop in standards, but they have made it vastly more costly, and there does not seem to be any route to re-privatisation without the state’s coffers taking a significant, repeated hit. This will be a noticeable chunk of GDP and we will have to pay for it.
The health system was in a continual state of improvement, but is taking a series of steps backwards, politicising it even further than they did while in opposition. Throwing away money on new crap IT systems, is exactly that, throwing away money. The new hbieb tal-hbieb system is not even linked to the government’s ID card database so for instance it has no idea I moved a few years ago. And that’s just a minor example.
However you manipulate the figures, unemployment as a percentage is up by almost a percentage point in the year since Joe Muscat came to power. If you factor in the 1400 people he has added to the government payroll, that’s two percent in all.
Whilst on the subject, the government is focussing its efforts on increasing manufacturing jobs, clearly back to the 70’s idea (what do you expect with the same people) that “min jilbes ingravata mhux haddiem”. This is not a good move on many levels. With the exception of the really high tech stuff, the trend is to send manufacturing to lower income countries, because it generates less income, for employees, for investors and for the state.
We need to focus on other jobs, and for that we need more education and better education. It is not a good sign when the Minister of Education is a 1970’s (ex) communist who frequently interrupted his lessons while teaching at De La Salle College to extoll the virtues of communism. The man is stuck in old unworkable mind-sets (communism aside) and I will have you note that this is feedback I have received from rabidly Labourite teachers, who unfortunately fail to see the irony of the fact that THEIR mind-set is derived from successful PN policies.
Energy policy. This is another piece of bollocks driven by “I said I’d do it so I will”. We never needed this power station and if we needed more energy supply and a gas pipeline was too expensive we should have been looking at a second interconnector not a whole new power station and a long term commitment to buy power and a short term fixed fuel price. If we don’t need it, we don’t need it. Without a loaves and fishes miracle (or possibly the reverse), this cannot end well. It is going to cost us, one way or another.
Tourism is still doing well, incidentally the only area where a nominally PN leaning individual was left in place. But tourism does not operate in a vacuum. Standards, rules, ‘doing things the right way’, have always been considered to be ‘Dak iz-zobb ta’ nejk tan-nazzjonalisti’ or pepe’ by a segment of the population, and a good number of these vote Labour, and all of them think they have a licence to abandon these when Labour is in government. The general lowering of standards in both the public and private sector is already clearly felt.
I could start on human rights but that’s a whole other spiel, suffice it to say that Labour does not comprehend this issue and cannot but fail to deliver in the long term on day to day issues which affect the population at large. Its talk of civil rights is not driven by a sense of justice or democracy, but is simply a vote grabbing exercise.
All of the above will have a negative impact on GDP and require lots of money to fix. Raising taxes (promises to the contrary aside) on a shrinking tax base is a vicious cycle and a self-propagating disaster.
We have seen this before, the last time Labour were in power for a meaningful length of time. Mintoff had an advantage Muscat does not have, however. He could turn around and steal from the middle class who did not vote for him anyway. Thanks to Eddie Fenech Adami, Lawrence Gonzi, and why not, Simon Busuttil, Joe Muscat does not have this luxury, because Labour is now also in part middle class, at least in terms of the material trappings.
Am I predicting disaster and gloating at the prospect of it? No, far from it. Five years of this will be bad, but ten will be a catastrophe. So again, it all boils down to money. You can stop this, but you need to stop moaning and do something about it yourself.
Looking forward to your burnout although I would have thought that happened many decades ago! You are your type are Labor’s best asset. Or should I say Lejber. Perhaps you would consider wearing a wig over that face of yours.
[Daphne – Mr Chetcuti, you are old enough to be my father and so nondescript that I’d be hard pressed to pick you out of a police line-up even if you had mugged me in broad daylight and without a mask. You lack both style and substance, have no sense of humour, are a lousy writer, and have never got over the fact that you were born far too early for gay liberation and are now just a washed-up old queen watching young gay men have the fun you never had. As for your powers of analysis, you were hauled to Australia by your Mintoffian working-class parents in the 1950s and despite spending your entire life there, you have absorbed and retained their political and intellectual sensibilities, prejudices and small-minded bigotry even at a lifetime’s remove of several time zones. You are tragic and embittered, and ultimately, quite pathetic. I suggest you stick a fuschia ostrich feather in your nether regions, clip on a couple of nipple pegs, borrow a wig, and take yourself down to the nearest bar in the hope of finding a nice bit of action.]
You missed out on correcting my writing. Now this is not your style, dear Daphne. Were you so angry that you did not notice that I wrongly inserted the word ‘are’. By the way, if fate had it that I were your father, I am sure I would have been found guilty of infanticide long ago. For the record, we migrated to Australia in 1965. Neither of my parents voted for Mintoff. But who cares about facts? It is so nice to see you getting so mad at the recent EU elections.
[Daphne – Actually, Mr Chetcuti, I didn’t bother to read your comment. Your content was predictable, and I had 400 comments queued up for moderation. There is no way you could have been my father. You only have sex with men and you are from the wrong background anyway. If you emigrated to Australia in 1965, you know as much about Malta as I do about Australia. Just to put things in perspective, I was a few months old when your parents packed up and dragged you there because they couldn’t hack it in independent Malta. Strange how they didn’t pop right back in 1971, but maybe that was because you were already well over 18 and they couldn’t collect their cheque from Muammar Gaddafi. Whatever they did to you, it’s time to forgive them for it: it’s pointless being so embittered and twisted at your great age, forever banging on about Catholicism and homosexuality. It’s not their fault you’re gay, and you shouldn’t be so miserable about it. And it’s not their fault they were churchy either; people raised in village environments usually were.]
I’m gay and my parents are both devout Catholics and raised me to be the same.
Although my relationship with the Catholic Church is complicated, the same cannot be said for my relationship with my parents which has actually improved a great deal since I came out.
I don’t think one’s Catholic upbringing should be the reason for rejecting the church, because then you are only rejecting a part of you.
It is through the Catholic Church that I learned about acceptance and compassion. Yes, it has said and done things that are wrong, but if I expect the Catholic Church to accept me with all my faults (my sexuality not being one of them, I hasten to add) then I should live by example and do the same.
I suggest you follow suit, if you really want to see improvement in the church’s relationship with homosexuals.
New coalitions forming.
Le Pen’s far right, who voted with the PL in the EP citizenship vote, triumphs in France.
Two considerations worth making – first, Sant will probably feel more at home amongst their group and second it shows the huge ideological mess the MLP is in.
Mrs Codruta Mallia was right after all: nies injuranti.
The headline that says it all http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140525/local/sant-biggest-winner-in-european-elections-he-did-not-want.520572
Democracy is reduced to mere arithmetics when 11 idiots overrule 10 philosophers.
Il-PL huwa l-partit tal-X jew ahjar eks. Fil-waqt li fi hdanu gabar l-eks deputati Nazzjonalisti korrotti bhal John Dalli, Jesmond Mugliett, JPO, Franco Debono, Cyrus Engerer etc, issa kien imiss li jelegu l -eks militanti kontra l-EU, Alfred Sant u Miriam Dalli, fl-Unjoni Ewropeja.
Minn fuq il-youtube channel ufficjali tal-MEP il-gdid Fredu Sant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEcC6pNXHEM
Tal-genn e dal-pajjiz
More than 1,200 people gave their no. 1 vote to Zaren tal-Ajkla.
“the best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter”
Winston Churchill
This is being heralded as today’s” big news” on Euronews;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/10855797/Marine-Le-Pen-wins-record-victory-in-French-elections.html
53% eh? Marlene Farrugia must be heartbroken.
Whilst my own views do not necessarily line up with the views of either party at present and line up far less with Alfred Sant’s past views towards the EU, I am not certain that interpreting the number of votes received by Dr Sant as contradictory is correct.
It may just be that the populace believes that in the present time a member with an overtly strong dislike for Malta’s union with the EU is actually the person they would like to have safe-guarding their interests.
Whilst I am personally pro the European Union from a personal gain perspective, I can appreciate that many people still feel that our entry into the EU was not the best move.
Is it possible then, that the votes indicate that the people (correct or not) are stating that they still feel passionately about not being part of the European Union, however they strongly believe that if they must be a part of it due to the fact that Malta is now a member they feel that Alfred Sant would make the best of what to them might be interpreted as a bad situation?
In simple terms – Party A may have put Malta in a particular situation one which possibly is not easy to get out of, Party B is elected to make the most out of the situation.
The votes therefore may, after all, not be interpereted as humour after all.
[Daphne – The very strong vote for Marine Le Pen in these elections in France is being interpreted as an anti-EU vote. Much the same is happening in Britain with the UKIP.]
There were no EU flags outside the glasshouse today and the off-message MLP Torca flag put in an appearance.
For all Muscat’s posturing – and cynical sale of EU citizenship – he appeals to anti-EU sentiment.
But that’s because those doing the interpreting are part of the flawed system itself.
It isn’t an anti-EU vote. It’s a vote against what the EU has become: a very expensive bureaucratic tangle that is powerless before the crucial issues of our lifetime.
If you were to deconstruct the arguments of the Far Right, the Radicals, the Radical Left, or even some Far Left parties, you’ll find that there is a lot of overlap with the original aims of the EU. That is, peace and prosperity for the people of Europe comes before peace and prosperity for anyone else. That’s just common sense. You cannot sort out other people’s problems before you sort out your own.
Right now I see a European Union that’s held together by rules and structures that purposely avoid the real European identity. We got a glimpse of this tension between reality and the legal fiction when the issue of the Judeo-Christian roots came up a few years ago.
The electors of Europe are throwing stones in the pond, hoping they’ll stir up something. Because something has to give.
I did not vote for Alfred Sant but I prefer him then some ‘ lackey ‘ and a ‘yes’ man to all the E.U does.
@ Mark Mallia
My husband is certainly feeling the benefits of this government, not being tal ”klikka” he got transfered twice on the same day, and not to something better.
For Heaven’s sake it’s only an EP election, 14 months after a general election.
Having said that, a large number of those who switched in 2013 still want to drive the message home to the PN that unless the party makes a complete and honest revamp it will keep it in Opposition.
I’m not too sure where Simon Busuttil features in this, but he still deserves his chance to prove himself as PN leader. For the moment at least.
It has been on the grapevine, though publicly pronounced by all socialists all over Europe that after this election they would change Europe into a new Europe, a true Europe, Joe did occassionally say somethin in that sense, Other points on the agenda are the illegality of illegal immigration and the liberation of Europe from austerity measures. Last but not least the possible alliance with Euro sceptics and those who want to see the dissolution of the Union. Maybe that is why PL chose Sant and the second past the post for their worth in their spite of the European Union.