Opinion • 16 March 2003

PN will have to start pushing the right buttons

Julian Manduca believes the PN will leave to sweat it out in the coming weeks

Dr Alfred Sant’s decisions to call on the public not to vote, and to abstain from voting himself, must be admired for acumen, if not for ethical conduct. Whatever we may think of the leader of the Opposition he has made his opposition tremble.

Sant was probably more concerned with consolidating his position in the Labour Party, but he achieved more than that, sending a shiver down all in the pro-EU camp.

What he may not realise is that a worried government is going to be more vigilant than a complacent one and in the end fear of losing our chance to join Europe might be the deciding factor that will ensure Malta joins.

The Nationalist Party may show a confident face, but while it does its homework it must be shivering to the bone.

Four weeks are too short a time for any administration to achieve anything of substance. The PN’s job in the coming weeks will be to ensure that it pushes all the right buttons to make sure it is elected on 12 April.

The PN has a great responsibility that stretches far beyond its own interests and Sant is irresponsible in the extreme when he tries to give the impression that EU membership has been rejected.

The Labour Party can undoubtedly shed doubts as to how many people want EU membership, without casting any doubts on a referendum that clearly expressed a desire to join, but any democratic party that is worth its salt cannot ignore what half the population, or more, wants.

Moreover the Malta Labour Party cannot continue to talk about a democratic deficit. I will be the first to admit that traditionally, the MLP has suffered because it does not have the support of certain sectors of the population especially those people that walk closer to the corridors of power. But the MLP enjoys certain advantages which more than make up for that lack of support.

The MLP is in opposition. From that position it should be much easier to gain support; it is always easier to criticise and promise than to administer. The MLP is in a position to exploit people’s fear about the unknown. Again it is much easier to get a message across to people that they should not opt for change – the PN and AD have the much more difficult task of convincing people to choose an institution and a life we are unfamiliar with. The MLP traditionally represents the interests of the working class. The working class do not have the political clout of the professionals and business community that traditionally support the PN, but in a democracy each vote has the same worth and the working class must outnumber the elite several times over. The MLP can have no excuses. Tony Blair showed how a Labour Party can win and hold on to power and he has never complained of a democratic deficit.

It is not part of human nature to enjoy being defeated or proved wrong, and it is not surprising that thousands danced Alfred Sant’s tune in spite of the clear majority ‘yes’ vote at the referendum. But that was a small hurdle compared to what has to come next.

Alfred Sant must now fight for his political survival. Another defeat at the polls will certainly mean that we will be looking at his back.

In the meantime the PN will have to sweat it out. For many of us these four weeks will be the longest weeks of our lives. The PN cannot afford to make any mistakes. One wrong foot forward and we could be out of Europe. The stakes are too high for the PN to slip up. If it enjoys a majority now it cannot be a big one. The fault lies squarely with the government for its failures over the past five years. We have witnessed a lacklustre government that has failed to make any important inroads to: improve our tourism product; upgrade the service offered by government departments; improve education in government schools; restructure industry; and tackle our myriad environmental problems including the disastrous transport systems.

For Dr Eddie Fenech Adami and his entourage the writing is on the wall: get your act together or you will get the boot. The only tragedy is that with you, we will have to wave goodbye to EU membership. Perhaps a price too high to pay.