Majority believe that parties are in big business’ pockets

An online poll held by Maltatoday confirms that which has been oft mentioned in the course of this electoral campaign - that the majority of the population are convinced that Malta's political parties are firmly in the pockets of big business.

Over the past few days, Maltatoday held an online poll that asked people what they felt about party financing and party donations by big businesses. Does big business finance our parties, and does it come at a price, or is it all a figment of the media's imagination?

The poll comes at a time when the issue is already well entrenched on the national agenda, as both the Nationalist party and the Labour Party are competing to pull off the slickest and most professional electoral campaign to date.

The issue was also fuelled in no small part by former Labour deputy leader Anglu Farrugia's concerns regarding the Labour's proximity to big business, and confirmation that the PN received a loan amounting to quarter of a million euros from development magnate Zaren Vassallo.

The reports only served to highlight the current lack of any semblance of regulations which govern and police party financing - which allow both parties to receive donations and favours - or as the Nationalist Party described them, 'barter agreements' - from parties unknown without the need to reveal or account for them.

But despite the PL and the PN's squabble regarding who's financing is the least burdened with the interference from business interest, Maltatoday's poll confirms that the majority (66% - 1,772 respondents) already believe that Maltese political parties are financed and directly influenced by the major players in business.

A lower - but significant - portion of respondents (25% - 669 respondents) said that while parties are financed by business, all is not lost, as government ministers are able to resist the influence of the hand that feeds them, even if they have a harder time doing so.

The smallest proportion is possibly the most idealistic, as 261 respondents, or 10% of the total number of respondents, believe that the spectre of party financing is a perception fed by the media and people ignorant of how politics truly works.

The poll received a total of 2,702 responses.