[WATCH] 'Time to stop hunters blackmailing politicians with their votes' - SHout

'Time to stop hunters blackmailing politicians with their votes' - Shout • Video by Ray Attard

The time has come to put an end to hunters using their votes to blackmail politicians, Spring Hunting Out (SHout) spokesperson Mark Sultana said.

“We know that politicians want the spring hunting controversy to end once and for all,” Sultana told a campaign event in Valletta. “Many Labour and Nationalist MPs and thousands of Labour and Nationalist voters are in favour of abolishing spring hunting.”

He took the broadcasting authorities to task for not showing the film clips of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Opposition leader Simon Busuttil publicly declaring that civil society should take the lead in the referendum campaign.

“The population is faced with a challenge- to progress or to stand still,” Sultana said. “We are asking the people to make a decision that, for once, is unrelated to their political allegiance.”

He warned that a loss for the No vote would send out a signal that hunters could do whatever they please, as well as a clear message in favour of “people who want to stop the clock from turning”.

He recounted how several different bird species had flocked to Malta to roost when the spring hunting season was closed twenty years ago, and how hunters had protested in the streets and in court against the referendum.

“We were called anti-democratic and intolerant, simply for wanting to hold a referendum,” Sultana said. “A referendum is the greatest democratic right and we have the right to exercise it.”

He called on people who have not yet done so to collect their voting documents.