My, what a dictator
Published:
February 26, 2012 at 3:08am
So Lawrence Gonzi got 96.5% of the vote. That makes him a dictator. We all know that dictators get 100% of the vote, so 96.5% isn’t too bad really.
I wonder what Franco Debono has to say about that. Nothing, it seems. Reporters flocked to ask him and he didn’t even show them his Form IIC mid-year report again. No, not even a haiku in Maltese.
Perhaps he’s too busy working out whether to turn up to parliament carrying Jonathan Livingston Seagull or Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
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How can Franco Debono show his face in Parliament again now?
Since 96.5% of the party voters are solidly behind Dr.Gonzi, is Franco prepared to resign today. Obviously his colleges and party members do not share is view. The only respectable thing for him to do is to resign today.
Dr. Gonzi certainly made him look the big loser.
Here it would be seppuku.
“Perhaps he’s too busy working out whether to turn up to parliament carrying Jonathan Livingston Seagull or Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.”
Does he have the option to carry Peter and Jane from the Ladybird series?
You’re kidding right? You mean to say that we have to congratulate the Prime Minister for winning the vote of councillors who were simply nominated in their position in the most untransparent of manners.
On what ground are they selected as “councillors”? By whom?
What do they do? All we see them do is, once in a while to “unanimously” approve by show of hands some long winding document which nobody reads, printed on glossy paper and full of pictures of happy smiling families picnicking on some grassy field, and usually titled “Flimkien nghidu iva biex pajjizna jwarrad”! You actually think that people out there with at least some gray matter between their ears are swallowing this? I don’t think so.
Getting 96.5% in the party is one thing. Getting it (or even 50%) in Parliament is another. As for getting 50% in a General Election ….
So now the election is over with the expected result.
I am still trying to figure out,what difference it has made to the situation.
The situation in party is still what it was and so is that in parliament.
It was just a waste of time and energy.
The only thing that could be considered as positive,is that now we know who are the talkers and who are the doers.
Franco has once again proved that all he is good at is talk,while Pullicino,Dalli and Mugliet,have proven that at least they stuck to their principles.
Now Gonzi has been assured of the support by the party, it’s now time to see if he has the support of the majority of the people and hoing to triumph even considering that now he will not be running on his own.
Franco…hadmek Gonzi.
Yesterday’s was an overwhelming and unprecedented show of support by the PN for its leader.
It could not have been more transparent and fair.
The unquestionable result speaks for itself.
It was what we, PN supporters, expected.
No more no less. It was just that.
Just what Lawrence Gonzi rightly deserved.
Now, the writing is on the wall for the handful of his detractors, within the Party, to contemplate.
Historically, the PN excels itself in times of crisis because it is made up of real men and real women.
The Party has, once again, risen to the occasion.
Why do PL supporters insist on trying to turn our current government into some axis of evil? And please, someone, anyone, explain to me their obsession with the slogan GonziPN.
Same reasons I guess for PN’s obession with “pratikament”, “elves”, “doctOr”, and what not.
Really? Because I don t see the connection. GonzoPN was a slogan used during an election. If it wasn’t for the Pl’s constant mentioning of it I would have forgotten about it by now, the same way I have forgotten about the PL’s slogan in the last election.
After ~9 years, the biggest political gimmick Malta witnessed in recent history, Labour’s “Patt mal-poplu”, has a serious challenger for the top spot. Someone should run a poll to settle which one is the gimmick of the century. Whatever the result, it would be a close battle – a photo finish!
Daphne, one of the very few times when I find it difficult to follow your logic. Lawrence Gonzi got 96.5% of votes from PN party delegates. That can’t be used as any form of indicator of government stability – if anything, it only says that the party is four-square behind Gonzi. How MPs vote in parliament is a different matter altogether.
Furthermore, the sentiments of PN party delegates have nothing to do with those of the rest of the country.
Party delegates do not vote a government in or out.
And to clarify, I never understood exactly why the term “dictator” is being used in a modern (perhaps wishful thinking) society like Malta. I guess that whoever is using it thinks that what Libya and Tunisia had, and what Iran has are very close to the way the Maltese government runs its affairs.
This is what Franco Debono had to say:
“I brought the government, PN back to their senses”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120226/local/franco-debono-i-brought-the-government-pn-back-to-their-senses.408593
I hope for his sake that he has come to his senses as well.
Dr Gonzi requested a vote for the leadership which no one challenged. The result is now known.
JPO, Mugliett and Dalli made a statement by not collecting their voting document. They made their choice known.
96.5% of the PN councillors also made they choice. They overwhelmingly voted to retain Dr Gonzi.
JPO and Muglkiett now have two choices. Either work with the government in the coming year, or if they feel so distant from the PN, resign their parliamentary seat immediately and let the government work to its mandate.
As for Dalli, he should retain his highly paid and prestigious EU post and cease meddling in Maltese politics, or just resign.
If the three of them keep their places, then it should be a clear sign that they should support the government. If they resign, they can then criticise as much as they want.
The same goes for Franco.
See the most recent comment – Labour doing what it does best (clearly not spelling)
http://familyrecipes.wikia.com/wiki/Qallut_Rbattut_%28Maltese_Reciepe%29
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120226/local/franco-debono-i-brought-the-government-pn-back-to-their-senses.408593
“So Lawrence Gonzi got 96.5% of the vote. That makes him a dictator. We all know that dictators get 100% of the vote, so 96.5% isn’t too bad really.”
Daphne, let’s not forget that Franco Debono got 100% of the vote in his Religious Knowledge exam.
So what else is new?
Give it to Labour and they will find a way of twisting a story until it is totally mangled and beyond comprehension.
Now they brought back the word ‘dictator’ which they had locked up in a dark cupboard somewhere since the Mintoff and KMB years. But this time around, they are trying to tag Gonzi and the NP with the dubious honour their leaders had so deservedly earned for themselves!
They are accusing the PM of being a dictator because he was the only contestant in a leadership race which he chose to open up for anyone to contest, and be decided in front of television cameras, after a secret ballot was cast by each eligible party councillor. How dictatorial!
It clearly demonstrated how weak any opposition to Dr. Gonzi is at Party level and how less significant Franco Debono has become within the Party hierarchy.
And how dared 22 vote against the continued Gonzi leadership? They should be found, gagged and hanged, or shot, if they so prefer. I will provide the rope and/or bullets. All I need to know is what caliber.
Maybe I should delete the last paragraph lest it will give Joseph & Co. reason to believe that I am a member of the dictatorship they hallucinate about. I wonder what funny stuff they’re smokin’ these days.
Didn’t Franco say he had resigned from the PN? How come he collected his vote and then voted?
A friend of mine lend me It-Torca yesterday to read Fr Montebello’s opinion. It really says it all about Franco.
Sa fejn naf jien, klikka tkun numru zghir go organizzazzjoni kbira hafna.
Mamma mia xi klikka kbira dik ta’ GonziPN li tammonta ghal 96,5% ta’ l-organizzazzjoni shiha!
Tghid kemm hi kbira hux il-klikka ta’ Johnny Dalli?
I wonder what Joseph would get if he had to put himself to the same test.
I think that the election for a leader was a futile excercise.
It changed nothing. It could not change anything.
Even if Dr.Gonzi was not elected in the first round, he would have done it on the second round. He got more percentage votes then four years ago, but this time there were no other contestants.
The delegates had no choice.
We wait and see what is going to unfold in parliament when votes are taken.
I want to make it clear that I am just a floater \ observer and do not back any of the major parties.
lola, stop writing nonsense. The delegates had no choice? Are you for real?
I can almost assure you that if Gonzi did not make it on the first poll, he would have called it a day. But not only he made it but obtained 96.5% of the votes, 2.4% higher than what he obtained when elected eight years ago! I know of no political leader anywhere (except in Communist countries where getting 100% is mandatory – or else) who increased their popularity vote eight years after being elected the first time. The delegates did have a choice. As a matter of fact 31 (no and abstentions) chose not to support their leader.
Joseph should try it with a secret vote like Dr Gonzi did and, who knows, he may get 96.6%, just enough to outdo Gonzi!
A ‘floating voter/observer’ should be able to get an unbiased opinion which, from your writing, does not seem to be forthcoming at this time. I wonder why?
here’s a haiku in Maltese:
shab mimli ilma,
nies bl-umbrella miftuha
jigru jistkennew !
like motorcycle s’ maintenance, the weather too can make an alternative subject :)
Ah! Haiku!
Franco Debono
Gab mija fir-religion.
Ghidli xi swielu?