You see? You don’t need to patronise women with positive discrimination.
The Nationalist Party has won its third seat in the European Parliament with 206 votes, and that seat has gone to Therese Comodini Cachia.
Of Malta’s six seats, four have been taken by women – Roberta Metsola and Therese Comodini Cachia for the PN; Miriam Dalli and Marlene Mizzi for Labour – and the other two by David Casa for the PN and Alfred Sant for Labour.
It looks like the women have made a much stronger impact on the electorate, for one reason or another. And I hate to have to say it, but the quality of those women does not only encapsulate the difference between the two parties. It encapsulates the difference between the priorities and preferences of the Nationalist Party’s core vote (the 40% who turned out to vote in this election) and those who voted Labour.
The PN’s women are a vociferous, committed and highly competent incumbent MEP and a human rights lawyer. Labour’s women are a Labour Party TV showgirl and a toyshop owner.
The choice of men says a great deal, too, though this time only about the preferences of the Labour electorate and of the PN electorate, because the parties themselves both chose a wide variety of candidates. Whereas the women selected for the PN ticket were all really good and strong, the men were not.
The PN electorate went for David Casa, who has had a seat in the European Parliament from the start in 2004. The Labour electorate went for Alfred Sant with a massive 51,000+ votes. Enough said.
Let’s hear it for the women, and positive discrimination be damned.
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Reply to The Mole Click here to cancel reply
There is a God and she’s a woman.
The Eurovision Song Contest and the Euro Elections. What a month.
But, please, dear Sister Ray, what on earth has one got to do with the other?
They are just as entertaining, to many.
Sister Ray, yes a bad month indeed. You forgot the cherry on the cake, the President of the republic. The veneration of man has been misdirected.
Congratulations to all the PN for having managed to reach it’s first target, that of obtaining three seats in this election.
This confirms Simon Busuttil’s leadership skills and perseverance. You’re getting to know the man.
PROSIT!
Next objective – Start reducing that gap.
Hekk hu go fik, Muscat.
Joanne Drake was a strong contender in 2004 and was unfortunate not to have made it.
There was a whispering campaign against her at the time – the sole reason found ‘against’ her (if you could call it that) being the fact that she was separated or was then in the process of being so.
It was shocking to hear such sliminess by another’s canvasser then, especially since Joanna Drake was one of the better candidates of 2004; it will shock you even more – or, perhaps not – to know who was behind such a malicious ‘plan’. Some people stop at nothing. Thankfully, they usually get teir just desserts.
Unfortunate? That was a gross miscarriage of justice.
I just hope that the powers that be at PN will immediately announce that the other 8 MEP candidates are the newest candidates for the next general election. They are all quality people, people of integrity.
Let’s give them our full support.
Discrimination be damned.
Yesterday I wrote that Simon Busuttil must stay on as leader, when things were not looking good for the PN. Now please can those PN voters stop grumbling about the leadership, roll up their sleeves and volunteer to work for the PN.
Hear, hear, well said. Come on, let’s go to work.
It-tgergir hu orkestrat mill-labour. mIll-ewwel kif saru jafu li Simon Busuttil ġie elett leader bdew l-attakki fuqu. Simon Busuttil baqa’ l-iktar li ġab voti f’elezzjoni ewropea; huwa leader li jaf jisma argument u jirribattih b’konvinzjoni; huwa bniedem mhux ta’ ħafna għajjat u pożi imma trankwill u jikkonvinċi.
I’m delighted for the PN and happy for Therese Comodini Cachia.
It was a strange twist that Clint Camilleri did not inherit the votes he needed from Joseph Cuschieri. On the PN front, once again one sees the power of the donkey vote – Commodini vs Zammit Dimech, with Zammit Dimech coming last on the ballot sheet.
But I’m actually glad he didn’t make it to Brussels. Not that he wouldn’t have been good, but the we/PN need/s him in parliament here.
I don’t think it was a strange twist that Clint Camilleri did not make it.
I think he was used by Joseph Muscat to pull in the max of Gozitan votes. I hope he asks himself a couple of detailed questions and looks beyond the marketing machine that the party he represents is.
I’m absolutely delighted for the Nationalist Party.
Simon Busuttil is a long distance player.
Oh my God, Muscat must be fuming.
He lost his claim to a new record – that of being the first party to elect more than 50% women candidates.
He is, but he has joined JPO for an Earl Grey cuppa.
I’ve just been told that Miriam Dalli is being referred to as Doctor Dalli by Pablo who is the TV presenter on TVAM.
Basta showgirl hej. Din ghanda BA ta hi.
Shame on you Daphne
And rightly so, she has lately graduated as a lawyer. Also holds 2 Masters in European studies and Management. Unfortunately she will still be regarded as a show girl which is quite a stigma. Maybe this is why she continued persisting to prove she was more than that. The cherry on top of the cake was marrying Karmenu Vella’s son to merit more recognition.
Mike,
I disagree that Daphne’s (and other’s) reference to her as being a showgirl is a result of stigmatisation.
I don’t think that one becomes a lawyer the moment she got her certificate, but rather, the moment she starts practising it. To the contrary, for the past 20 years, she has been on Super One TV.
Miriam Dalli chose to dress up as a dolly bird when launching her campaign. That marked her out as man-bait, rather than as a person with brains.
Having ANY degree doesn’t necessarily make you suitable for the EP. (Especially with all the rubbish that graduates from the University of Malta.)
Sincere congratulations to Roberta Metsola and Therese Comodini Cachia. The PL women MEPs pale in significance compared to the quality of those of the PN.
Well done, ladies – totally agree that positive discrimination should be dead in the water.
So, let’s read between the lines here. It is the strongest ‘negative’ fighters who have won the Natonalist vote – the more ‘negative’, proportionally the more votes.
Metsola and Casa have been lambasted by the PL for being traitors because they fought the passport scheme in the EU etc, and Comodini Cachia ridiculed because of her strong stand against the gas tanker in Marsaxlokk.
Come on – isn’t this glaringly obvious? The ONLY way the Nationalist Party can recover its lost votes and win another election is for it to show that it is a strong ‘tarka’ for the people against the excesses of the Muscat government.
The more ‘negative’, the better. Please Dr. Busuttil, read the writing on the wall and forget being politically correct with this pack of wolves.
Let’s cut this crap about negativity. The audience wants a position statement from the candidate it votes for.
It doesn’t want to hear a wishywashy answer.
It wants a cleara and outright position.
Each audience group looks for this. That is the future for the PN strategy to win the next election.
It is difficult to believe. Labour are happy with the results because they have 34,000 more votes than the PN, and the PN are happy because they have won the third seat at the expense of the PL.
All this hoo-hah about PL garnering 34000 odd votes more than PN is hugely inconsequential.
Contrary to the general elections, where the eventual number of seats is dependent on the district outcome etc., the number of seats up for grabs in the EP is fixed at six.
So, as we have just witnessed, the difference in the number of “ones” obtained by each party is hugely irrelevant and winners and losers are determined by the number of seats each party wins.
The PN therefore has reason to be proud. It managed to win an extra seat which until last week belonged to the PL. So much for the blowing of trumpets about vote difference.
I still can’t get over the fact that Casa was elected ahead of Joanna Drake in 2004.
After 10 years ? Wow ! Then bet you did not vote for Casa ? Move on, j, it’s 2014.
Oh my, and now Facebook is full of men wondering whether the vote for four women is not in itself a protest vote.
My first four preferences included three women, two of whom were elected. I was not protesting anything, or trying to make a point. I believe they were the best persons, irrelevant of gender, to represent me in the EP.
I just can’t understand why they can’t wrap their heads around the fact that gender can just be inconsequential at times when voting.
I voted for people who I thought would do a good job; it just turned happens that three of them were women.
This result is a great morale boost, most of all, for Dr Busuttil. He reached his target, despite all the adversity against him. Go get ‘em Dr Busuttil.
Joseph Muscat lost a seat in the EU parliament after using all possible party and government resources including the public broadcasting and the power of incumbency.
Drawing on my life experiences, I can only agree with your post. Prosit, women.
Not to mention the fact that the men are worlds apart.
Sant: diehard Nationalist and eurosceptic
Casa: committed Europeanist, Federalist and Democrat
In my view, the turning point of this election was Count 19 when Deborah Schembri was eliminated.
Deborah Schembri’s 8314 votes where transferred mainly to Miriam Dalli (2394 votes) and Marlene Mizzi (2981 votes). At that point Clint Camilleri inherited just 373 votes.
Even on count 24, when Miriam Dalli’s 1554 excess votes where distributed, Marlene Mizzi got 701 votes and Clint Camilleri got 307 votes.
Is it a labour voters phenomenon that once you pick a female candidate you tend to stick to female candidates on the following preferences ?
Apparently not.
Helga Ellul’s 3067 votes gave 1508 votes to Roberta Metsola and 466 votes to Therese Comodini Cachia.
It is impossible to conclude why this occurred.
Roberta Metsola excess votes went primarily to David Casa – but that’s because they both carried out an excellent job during the past years.
Whatever the case, Count 19 and Count 24 made all the difference helped Therese Comodini Cachia to end up with 200 votes more than Clint Camilleri.
Needless to say, Joseph Cuschieri’s clash with Joseph Muscat had its effects as well.
1025 Joseph Cuschieri’s votes couldn’t be transferred to other labour candidates because they opted for a single candidate non-transferable vote.
Hear Hear…
But then again, Ms. Marlene Mizzi has been milking (and capitalizing) on her ‘token’ appointment since the ill-fated Sea Malta / BOV days – to this day.
So it would be true to say that there has been a ‘token woman’ legacy which has endured the test of time.
My number one went to Therese Comodini Cachia. I am SO glad she has been elected. I know her well and I think she is a great person with brains and education (as opposed to instruction) to match. Besides, her values are where they should be. I am really really glad she made it. Well done indeed, Therese.
I agree with Edgar. Stop grumbling about the leadership and let us work with them to strengthen the party and prepare for the next general election.
And please people should stop complaining that they haven’t been visited by a single PN candidate during the past years. Exactly why do you want so much to be visited by politicians? Aren’t you getting attention anywhere else?
Amen to that, Daphne!
Kollox bilancjat u biz-zewg.
Tliet bi tlieta, zewg nisa kull partit, zewg irgiel bil-parrokka
I voted no1 for Stefano Mallia, 2 for Roberta Metsola, 3 for Therese Comodini Cachia etc. No disrespect to the others but in my humble opinion they were the best 3 in the list. Women do not need positive discrimination. When voting you should look at the abilities and track record of the candidate not what genital organs they possess.
I gave my number 1 to Helga Ellul, and she’s a woman.
Alas, she’s also a “barranija”. But we can still have her as finance minister in 2018. Or perhaps as foreign minister, with Ray Bugeja as finance minister. A bit of rapprochement with Germany won’t hurt.
It wouldn’t hurt as much as rapprochement with China, at any rate.
The MLP always win! Remember the ‘partnership’ referendum?
But who cares – PN have won three seats and that is enough to start the ball rolling. It’s even on seats so it’s a draw BUT PN increased a seat and there is no denying that.
That is how the emancipation of women should be achieved, by a merit that is there indubitably, not by any “positive discrimination” that actually demeans womanhood.