News • 23 March 2003

Forget the EU – Labour’s tack

Week two of the electoral campaign and the MLP insists the next election is about good governance.

Kurt Sansone analyses the Labour Party electoral campaign.

Mile End, Hamrun - Two weeks down the line in its election campaign and the Labour Party’s strategy to steer public debate away from European Union membership has proved successful.

Caught unawares by the rapidity of Labour’s intensive campaigning, the Nationalist Party has not managed to drum the message home that the next election is also about EU membership.

Labour leader Alfred Sant has used these few short weeks to talk about the bread and butter issues facing the people. Sant has conveniently sidelined the issue of EU membership and his party’s partnership option knowing full well that a decision taken on those lines would not benefit the MLP come 12 April.

The first two weeks of campaigning have also seen Sant trying to project the New Labour image seen already before in 1996. The rally cry, ‘Min mhux kontrina huwa maghna’ (Who is not against us is with us) and the repeated appeals for Labourites who voted ‘yes’ in the referendum to flock back to the party smells heavily of the New Labour rhetoric that characterised the 1996 election campaign.

The conciliatory approach is one that tries to inject a feel good factor in the psyche of Labour supporters, who may not be so certain of victory at the forthcoming election.

The general election purports to be a close affair with officials on all sides of the political divide privately admitting that victory, or indeed an absolute majority, are not a sure thing.

The imagery used by Labour compliments the intended message. The fresh-looking rose that has finally replaced the ridiculous stick figures, the smiling faces on the billboards, the daily press conferences focussing on sectorial issues and the emphasis on not closing all doors on a fresh referendum after the general election have the sole aim of portraying the Labour Party as the ideal party for government.

The strategy to alienate people from the decision taken on 8 March has worked. For how long Labour can maintain its stance still has to be seen. Simply ignoring a decision taken by the electorate is not the best of ways to face another democratic test.

However, two things jar in Labour’s flowery campaign. The billboards that compare Eddie Fenech Adami to Joseph Fenech aka Zeppi l-Hafi, are part of a negative, hate campaign against the Prime Minister. They are meant to highlight alleged sleaze in the record of the current administration. These billboards have stood in our streets for two weeks and could signify a half-hearted attempt at negative campaigning. A grainy television spot that outlines the PN’s failed promises supports the billboards. The TV advert concludes with the infamous words reminiscent of the failed 1996 PN campaign that trumpeted the slogan ‘ma tistax tafdah,’ (You cannot trust him). Labour’s slogan is ‘Lil Fenech Adami ma tistax tafdah’ (You cannot trust Fenech Adami).

This part of Labour’s campaign is in stark contrast with the conciliatory words used by Sant during public meetings during the past two weeks, when he has always appealed for calm, courage and peace.

Even if Labour’s negative campaign seems to be contained, it is a spoke in the wheel of those criticising the PN for embarking on a negative campaign against Alfred Sant.

Another aspect of Labour’s electoral campaign that contrasts heavily with the general imagery being used, is Sant’s repeated insistence that the Prime Minister recognise the general election result.

This was more evident during the second week of the campaign. Sant’s statements are what one would expect from leaders of despotic countries experimenting with elections for the first time. And coming from a person who has not recognised a referendum result the appeal sounds rusty. However, it only goes to show that Labour is not at all certain that it can master an absolute majority on its own.

It is a recognised policy of Sant to attack when he could be expected to defend. Sant calling into doubt Fenech Adami’s democratic intentions confuses Labour supports into believing that the Prime Minister has something to hide and may have dubious intentions. However, Sant’s insistence with Fenech Adami that he accepts the election result also exposes the threat perceived by both political parties that none of them could win an absolute majority of the votes cast on 12 April.