No campaign is mature

They may be the best of times or the worst of times. But electoral campaigns never represent the most mature of times. And that’s true whether we’re talking about Maltese electoral campaigns or those taking place in the US, the UK, France or anywhere else. So we should stop kidding ourselves that Malta is showing it has politically come of age.

There are good reasons why truly rational choices remain elusive- Ranier Fsadni

The democratic world is crowded with people who look back at watershed elections and wonder why and how they ever believed the things they clung to then.

Barack Obama in 2008? Like millions of others, I’d have confidently voted for him and not entertained any regrets since. But what about the crazy idea that he could transcend partisan politics? The old-time political fixers said it couldn’t work but voters took them to be jaded and unimaginative.

Now, at the beginning of his second term, Obama depends on Vice-President Joe Biden – to an extent, no recent US President has depended on his deputy – to broker deals in Congress, the old-fashioned way.

The UK in 2010? It was all a-throb with Clegg-mania and the hope that a third political party in coalition might keep the two big and distrusted parties in line. Now, contempt for Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats is at an all-time high. No, I am not making a point about third parties or the merits of coalition government. My point’s about how the thrill that Clegg inspired has turned to utter disbelief.

France in 2012? I’d have voted for François Hollande and, possibly because I don’t live in France, not regretted it since. But there are thousands of French voters who do regret voting for him, no matter how rational and mature their choice seemed less than a year ago.

Election campaigns, the manufacturer’s instructions say, should be a period of deliberative reflection, during which the voters mull over the options and then make a pondered rational choice. But there are good reasons why truly rational choices – that is, reasoned logical choices, as against instinctive ones based on image – remain elusive.

The relative brevity of election campaigns kills off any real reasoned discussion. No politician can afford nuance, since he will fall victim to selective quotation and not have time to clear the matter up. And there’s a point where claim and counter-claim, budgeted proposal and counter-proposal, end up cancelling each other out because most voters have nothing to judge them by except a gut instinct about whom to trust more.

I am, of course, aware of the argument that the most rational criterion, in an electoral campaign, may be to go with character. Or, rather, one’s assessment of the main decision-makers’ characters. Who would be the one more likely to watch out for the fate of someone like me? Who would more likely take the right decision under pressure?

I’m even ready to accept that, in a country facing heavy economic turbulence to its north and heavy political turbulence to the south, going with character may be the better option since nothing is going to turn out quite as planned.

But going with character is only sound if one is paying attention, behaving coherently and if the media keep one adequately informed. But that’s not happening. Not in Malta, not in this campaign.

First, no general election has turned on seemingly technocratic issues as this one but no election has seen individual experts so readily dismissed as partisan.

Now, I’d be the first to say that any expert opinion needs to be treated with caution. But the way to do that is to verify by asking for second opinions.

Ann Fenech, the maritime law specialist, made specific claims about ship registration and delivery practices that can be verified or disproven. A lot hinges on the truth of her claims. However, no media organisation has sought to double check them.

Similarly, it must be experts, surely, who have advised Labour that it would have been better for the PN government, some years back, to have accepted the Italian and Algerian offers to help convert Malta’s energy infrastructure to gas. But no media organisation has given Labour the space to explain why, had it been in government, it would have accepted the Italian or the Algerian offer.

The PN has shot down the two offers as disastrous for Malta on financial grounds. Labour has not been given the opportunity to explain why it believes the two offers made sound market sense.

Finally, this is an election in which both major parties are accusing the other of making promises that, if fulfilled, would lead the country to financial ruin. This in a context where our world is strewn by societies that have been thrown into turmoil by economic mismanagement.

But many voters’ reaction is to tune out. Some go as far as to say that they’re disenchanted with both political parties and yet feel safe with both of them. Go figure.

If such is the index of our maturity and normality, I’d really like to see what we’d be like when we turn frivolous and crazy.

ranierfsadni@europe.com