Mrs M smiled serenely as we settled down in her front room. It was an election house call and she knew it. Her smile broadened as she said: “I must let you know that I am very happy with the government’s performance”
I smiled back. “In that case I will not disturb your evident happiness” I said. “Since you are so happy with the PN, I assume that you are keen to avoid a Labour government and in that case, may I point out that you would do well to give AD your last preference vote. If things pan out in the way they did in the 2004 EP elections AD will be left to compete against the MLP when the last PN candidate is eliminated. In that case you may want your very last preference to come to bear in favour of AD against the MLP and not waste your last vote completely as happened with the PN surplus in 2004.”
“But what if the last two candidates left in the running are PN and MLP?” she asked. “What happens to my vote?”
“In that case the AD candidate will never get your vote and you will have done your best for your party” I replied. “Will you consider giving AD your last vote?”
“Yes, certainly. Once I have voted for all my party’s candidates I could not use it better” Mrs M smiled again.
It was a very pleasant exchange. I do not feel that Mrs M is an adversary and I sincerely do not want to disturb her happiness. It seems so very rare. In almost a year of canvassing I have never heard anyone justify their support of the PN in such terms. It is usually a lesser evil decision. Nobody else claimed to be so satisfied with the government’s performance.
I left her house with a broad smile. The votes that will take any AD candidate to parliament will come from people like her and I am comfortable about being answerable to her. Many Labour voters will do precisely the same and that is a unique feeling.
Clearly the bulk of our support has to be in first preference votes but No 2 and later preferences are also essential. The thought that they will come from both sides of the political divide means that we are a meeting point in Maltese politics, a precious place. If we are not the bridge between Labour and PN, we are the hope of finding the foundations for such a bridge sometime in the future.
While the panic and tensions of an election campaign mount around us, Mrs M and I smile serenely. We are friends and neighbours. We always will be.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
With the population split in half for the large parties, I think many traditional voters do not know that when they give the last votes to AD, at least AD would have a better chance to compete against the opposing party.
Such an explanation should be more advertised.
This is great info to know.
Post a Comment