Opinion: Mind the gap – Malta

All eyes on Sunday were fixed on ‘the Gap’. As the day wore on, the size of ‘the gap’ between the votes garnered by representatives of Malta’s major parties shrunk from 23,000 at the start of the day to around 8,000. Early analysis of the numbers was predictably simplistic and opportunistic.

Robert Abela proclaimed a victory early. He had to. The miraculous alignment of stars meant that a Labour party that had haemorrhaged votes could still say it had ‘won’ the elections, having obtained the largest number of first-count votes.

Such declarations normally suffice to appease the baying rabble of party die-hards who need a simple signal to kick off their festive jubilation. The numerical victory meant state and party propaganda could plug the headline “Labour wins MEP elections” from around midday.

Bernard Grech also walked into the counting halls of Naxxar with an air of triumphant celebration. Early on, the signs were there that ‘the gap’ had begun to be filled.

Quite quickly, too, the scare in the form of Arnold Cassola and the independents had made way for the PN to recover the coveted third seat.

Victory of victories was proclaimed to the banging of perspex and the singing of archaic party anthems with obsolete overtones of fascist enthusiasm.

Roberta Metsola graced the halls with her presence and maintained the detached decorum befitting of her post. She could have gloated with the power of a person who has just obtained 1 out of every 4 votes cast in the election.

She was hailed as the Queen and Messiah. She could not escape the inevitable question of “What next?” that was loaded with the implication of her pending return to ‘local’ politics at the helm of the PN. Her reply was clear – there is no difference between Maltese and European politics. Interesting.

Alex Agius Saliba will surely not attribute his record-breaking vote count to donkey votes, thanks to his acquired surname. His presence at the halls was somewhat muted due to parallel events at Labour HQ. Roberta Metsola’s trailblazing within the EP has had spinoff benefits for the only labour MEP to contest the election.

His socialist grouping would have required a Maltese national to shadow his counterpart from the EPP, which meant higher visibility that paid off dividends.

Less about the candidates now. What do we make of this election of multiple victors? To begin with, Labour could not have been humbled much more than this. The only worse result would have been to lose the majority outright.

They did fall below the absolute majority threshold. Combining PN votes, other party votes and abstentions we will find that there is little to no faith in this government’s candidates beyond the party core.

Speaking of abstentions and other party votes, the PLPN duopoly has been dealt a severe lesson. Over 130,000 voters have no confidence in either of the two parties. A clear vote of disapproval of the PLPN style of politics. The winner takes all. The stranglehold over institutional and constitutional matters that is choking our democracy.

We saw glimmers of this in the campaign, with the heavily PLPN-biased Electoral Commission refusing Cassola and the ADPD’s requests for access to data.

Which brings me to the PN. My most significant takeaway is that this PN has had all the work done for it. All the talk of hard work and progress wilts when faced with the reality of the numbers involved.

Comparisons are made mainly with the previous EP elections (2019) and the 2022 National Elections. The PN has hardly progressed, gaining 11,000 votes since 2019 but only shifting with less than a percentage point from the 2022 result.

Undoubtedly, Metsola’s presence on the PN list guaranteed the third seat. Her two quota votes combined with the second preferences from candidates such as Cassola might have just about saved the day insofar as the seat is concerned.

The other parties—the non-PLPN candidates—obtained 13% of the votes (32,882 combined). Considering Labour’s lost votes, the PN cannot rest on its dubious laurels when it sees that most of those votes did not swing its way.

I was livid listening to Bernard Grech speak from the counting hall. Even more livid when he spoke later, having had time to reflect. What was that nonsense about the people having chosen the PN and its ‘economic plan’?

Why did he consciously avoid any talk about the corruption that we are facing, the backsliding of the rule of law, and the myriad of challenges and problems that the current government has created and that the PN should be poised to solve?

Instead, Grech gave us the drivel of politics of unity, positive messages and setting oneself up as an alternative government.  An alternative government that pushes all the wrong buttons because it fails to acknowledge the PN’s role in the wrecking of a constitutional system that has allowed the rise of a corrupt government.

It pushes the wrong buttons because it fails to tackle the elephant in the room – that before even considering the role of leading the nation, the PN must undergo a profound transformation.

Such a transformation should renege the heritage of being part of a duopoly that chokes the state and institutions. It should commit to a new form of open politics that allows for wider participation by more parties and ends the career-driven politics-for-gain culture represented by the PLPN today.

I am aware that this would be done to the detriment of the very PN itself, but this is the only way in which the PN could lead the change. By being the change.

And no more perspex banging and mobs singing hymns. Pretty please.