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James Debono
It was ten to seven. The electoral commission was planning to close. PN official Henri Darmanin suddenly appeared and informed the commission, that Matthew Frendo, Manwel Saliba, Lawrence Grixti and Joseph Brownrigg were being withdrawn. The commission offials looked on in disbelief aware that this would mean that there would be no election in these two labour dominated councils.
In seconds Jason Micallef’s mobile phone was ringing. “ The PN have withdrawn their candidates, there will be no election at Zejtun and Marsa.”
The MLP secretary general froze, he understood that they had been had, and in no way could he muster more Labour candidates to call an election in such a short time. He fumed and lifted the phone to inform Alfred Sant of the latest development.
Back in November 1986 the PN had insisted on their democratic right to organize a mass meeting in Zejtun. Back then led by current President Dr Eddie Fenech Adami, the PN insisted that democracy and the rule of law should prevail in Zejtun. The PN insisted on this principle to the point of exposing its leadership and supporters to the attacks of Labour thugs in Tal-Barrani. This event is a cherished one in the collective memory of Nationalist Party supporters. In fact the PN has chosen 30 November 1986 as one of the landmark dates in its 125 anniversary celebrations. Ironically two decades later, the PN has devised an electoral stratagem, which has effectively disenfranchised the people of Zejtun.
In so doing Nationalist Party General Secretary Joe Saliba has proven his credentials as a master mathematician with a very misshapen political vision. By withdrawing candidates from elections in Zejtun and Marsa, the PN has ensured that no elections will take place in these two major Labour strongholds in next March’s local elections.
In 2002, when elections were held in the same localities in which elections will be held this year, the MLP had gained a total of 6,671 votes in Marsa and Zejtun. The PN had only gained 2,550 votes in these two localities. This amounts to a gap of 4,121 votes in the MLP’s favour in just these two localities. The total gap between the PN and MLP in all 22 localities contested in 2002 amounted to 4,331 votes in the MLP’s favour.
Yet when one removes Zejtun and Marsa from the sum of votes for the two parties, this gap is reduced to a sheer 210 votes in the MLP’s favour. But one has to also consider the fact that in 2002 elections in the small Gozitan locality of Fontana were not held.
Elections in Fontana were last held in 1996. In those elections the PN won 192 more votes than the MLP. Elections will once again take place in Fontana this year and this could further decrease the gap between the two parties in the PN’s favour. When taking previous elections into account the MLP and the PN will start this race from a position of absolute parity in terms of votes gained in the past.
In 2002 the PN scored 26,247 votes in all 23 localities minus Fontana. The MLP scored 30,578 votes in the same amount of localities.
The MLP gained an absolute majority of 52 per cent in these elections. The PN gained just 44.8 per cent of the vote. Yet if one removes the votes cast in Zejtun and Marsa, the PN would have got a total of 23,697 votes ie 48.1 per cent of the vote while the MLP would have gained 23907 votes ie 48.5 per cent of the vote.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi commenting on the withdrawal of candidates from Zejtun and Marsa declared: “This is a strategy used in every election. We’ve had localities along the years where no election was held because the MLP or the PN didn’t field enough candidates. It’s normal and I can’t understand why it should be so different this time”.
Yet never before in the history of Maltese local elections were candidates withdrawn in order to cancel the elections. By withdrawing candidates at the very last moment the PN ensured that neither the MLP nor any other party or independent could present another nomination so that elections are held.
Since the first local elections in 1993, elections have not been in several relatively small localities, most of which with less than 1,500 registered votes. One can reasonably conclude that these elections were not held because not enough candidates were interested in contesting.
The largest locality in which elections were not held for this reason was Pieta where elections were not held in1997. In 1993 elections were not held in Kirkop.
The only other Maltese locality in which elections were not held in 1998 and 2001 was Safi. All the other localities in which elections were not held were small Gozitan localities with less than 1,500 registered voters. The Gozitan localities in which elections were not held were Fontana in 1999 and 2002, Ghasri in 1999, Kercem and Munxar in 1998 and Qala 1998. In none of these instances were candidates withdrawn at the very last moment to ensure that no other candidate would make up for their withdrawal.
In order to prepare for a possible defeat before the 2002 elections, the PN used to underline the fact that this round of elections favours the MLP.
On 19 February 2002, Joe Saliba told MaltaToday: “This is an MLP group of councils,” in which “the largest localities are mainly Labour party strongholds”.
The PN used to make these claims in spite of the fact that it had won elections in the same localities in 1999 by three percentage points. Due to the PN’s decision to withdraw from Zejtun and Marsa, this excuse does not apply in next March’s election. After the 2002 debacle the PN responded by underscoring the political consequences of this electoral defeat by stressing the local nature of this vote. The PN’s position was vindicated by subsequent events and the PN ended up winning the 2003 general elections. Ironically by recurring to such devious tactics to minimise the scale of a possible defeat, the PN is recognising the political importance of this appointment. Anything less than 48.1 per cent of the vote would be interpreted as a major political defeat for the Nationalist Party.
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