See the elephant in the room

It is not the impressive turnouts at this week’s mass meetings of the two main parties that will determine which of the two will win the election but the ever widening swathe of uncommitted voters and the band of 19,000 new electors.

All polls carried out so far have indicated that Labour are set to win but it is not the first time that polls have been proved wrong.

In any case, it will not be long now before the country has a new Administration and most people will be glad for that because this election campaign has been far too long.

The Nationalists sought to extend the campaign to gain time in the hope, perhaps, of reclaiming lost ground but this was a mistake because it led to weariness across the country.

There has been strong debate across the board, plus scandals and mud-slinging, but, thankfully, the country has been spared the kind of political tension experienced in past elections.

In this regard, the country appears to be suddenly propelling itself into the mainstream of European politics, though there are still pockets in Europe where the trends are not exactly worth admiring or following.

Joseph Muscat says his dream is to kill tribalism in local politics. Alfred Sant before him steered his party in the right direction in this respect when he weeded the party of undesirables.

The Nationalist Party has not been holding back from trying to eliminate excessive partisanship either and this election campaign has demonstrated that, through cooperation, the country is able to hold a general election that is free from the upheaval that used to be experienced in the past .

However, what is strikingly obvious is that while the two main parties continue to pay lip service to what has now become an electoral mantra, that is to make a leap forward in the way we do politics, on the other hand, they act as if they are not aware of the elephant in the room.

The whole country knows about it and people with a level head on their shoulders often despair at the state of things in broadcasting.

The radio and television stations of the PN and the PL are apt to present any given situation so drastically different from each other that people often wonder whether they are living in the same island. The slant in favour of their respective party is carried to such a ridiculous extent that even their own ardent supporters get confused.

Yet, the parties pontificate on their wish to introduce a new, more responsible kind of politics. The cherry on the cake is that their ‘political analysts’ do not think twice about running down other media whom they think are biased in favour of one party or another or of laying down their own brand of impartiality. The hypocrisy is glaringly obvious but, it seems, not to the two main parties.

If they expect, as they should, that the public broadcasting station plays ball all the time, why should they not start putting their own house in order first and remove all that has been feeding political tribalism for so many years? Now this is probably the hardest nut to crack for the two parties but are they willing to see to it?

It is only when the two parties clean their own backyard that they can be convincing in their pledge to work for a new political environment.