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Politics Values

The Wasted Vote

So you voted PN last election? You got Lawrence Gonzi and Austin Gatt. You got David Agius and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando. You got Edwin Vassallo and Tonio Fenech. You got Tonio Borg and Karl Gouder. You got the party that is anti-divorce on paper but can wake up one morning and spring a private members bill surprise. You’ve also got Joe Saliba to thank for those sleepless nights conferring profession after profession on Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando – from dentist to farmer to press card bearing journalist. Don’t worry though… if you’ve got a liberal streak in you there’s always Cyrus Engerer and Frank Psaila’s plan for a “social liberal” face to save the day.

So you voted PL last election? Well actually you voted for Alfred Sant’s MLP but we know where that one went. After the tears subsided what did you get? You got Joseph Muscat and Adrian Vassallo. You got Owen Bonnici and Marie Louise Coleiro. You get Marlene Pullicino and Gino Cauchi. You get a party that wants to be liberal and progressive but fails to take a simple stand on divorce. You get the inventor of the “free vote” that means that whatever the flying flip you wanted to elect in parliament has no point anyway – because the individuals’ conscience is paramount. So was it pro-divorce Muscat that you were thinking of or was it anti-divorce Vassallo?

Have you really ever sat down and wondered what your vote translates to once the noise of the last carcade subsides, once the last billboard of empty propaganda is removed and once the last article of the spinners of hate is condemned to the bottom of your dustbin?

Funny. Last I heard, not voting PL or PN would turn out to be a “wasted vote”.

“I’m sorry, but in your desperate attempts at convincing yourselves and anyone else who is listening that if XXX becomes prime minister you have nothing to do with it, you are on your own. If you had the slightest bit of political savvy or psychological nous, you would know that you are setting yourselves up as hate objects…”

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6 replies on “The Wasted Vote”

This is actually something I think about quite often. What do you do if you like only certain candidates from the big two parties, but don’t trust them to keep their spine if ever elected?

And what happens when you want to vote Green and that’s it?

Personally I find voting for a basket of values more sensible than the particular candidate. The voting system in Malta is to a large extent determined by the first preference. I do cross party voting all the time if I like a particular candidate from either side of the spectrum in my district. My first preference is governed by the set of values/proposals being put forward from each party; I then identify the candidate that best reflects my thoughts. No single candidate satisfies the ‘full shopping list’ but some go close enough.

Your selective comparison between PL and PN candidates is not really fair. Adrian Vassallo is no match say to Edwin Vassallo from the PN that each time he cares to open his mouth spews dogmatic non-sensical arguments that are nothing but an utter nuisance to my ears. I have yet to find say a finance minister in the Euro zone that is as hallucinogenic as ours; shivers go down my spine when our financial policies are driven by a man who retains has had an apparition by the Virgin Mary; not to mention that many perceive him as part of the leadership of the party given his relative young age. I don’t know how you sit with that propsect. It personally makes me uncomfortable.

I look at the PL and the prospective candidates is more level headed possibly; Deborah Schembri joining the ranks bolsters that argument. A relatively unknown quantity ahas turned into a fresh face possibly that never flips even at the most outrageous of arguments. The PL has moved on from mud-slinging of politicians even though at times there was an element of truth. The PN is undoing itself out of its own actions. I look at the PN and see a PM that is more busy over looking his shoulder defending himself from some backbench backbite than actually getting on with the business of governing.

People like me (and possibly yourself) who are frequently alienated by condescending dogma have never felt so far removed the status of the PN right now; where the majority feel they have no problem if the church and the state are joined from the hip. I think an electoral loss for the Pn would benefit the party on many levels. First and foremost it would trigger some soul searching and a possible revision of its image. That exercise will undoubtedly put forward the prospect of a leadership contest and the likes of Simon Busutill should possibly enter the fray. This week we have seen the first signs of that intention. (read article in times).

So coming back to your Shakespearean postulation; I say vote for a basket of values/proposals not the candidate – voting for the candidate is secondary to the overriding argument of how a party gets elected to govern. I say don’t be held hostage by your traditional voting patterns; make the parties hostage to your values and be liberal in your voting.

Hi Simon,
Apologies for the late reply. I think that we are on the same wavelength here – re voting for a basket of values. My question remains relevant after your explanation… it is useless voting for a “basket of values” when you cross-vote across parties for example. Which part of your “basket” is represented once one party is elected to government? The way I see it, your intentions (vote liberal) will not get you anywhere unless you can identify a party that clearly and unconditionally espouses liberal values.

You may find Debbie Schembri “level-headed” but Debbie Schembri is not the party. Neither is Joseph Muscat. The party that is collectively responsible for its actions to the electorate is still evidently a populist machine riding on a wave of lucky guesses.

Until now if I my maths is right the only party with clear unconditional positions on “liberal” issues is AD. It seems I’m alone in the doing the maths though … just look at the depressing MT survey as to how ppl would vote today.

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