Change within Labour

The coming general election is crucial. An overwhelming majority of the electorate has been saying that Alfred Sant should go; the coming election will be their last chance to make it happen.

Despite losing two consecutive elections Dr Sant has managed to cling on to the party leadership for 16 whole years. Should he win the coming general election then, by the end of the next legislature, Dr Sant would be celebrating 21 years at the helm of the Malta Labour Party. New beginning? Yeah right!

Dr Sant should have called it a day ages ago. Genuine MLP supporters are indeed crying for change, change within Labour. Genuine MLP supporters are very uncomfortable with the present situation. On one hand they wish their party to win the coming general election but on the other hand they know that, should Labour make it to government, they will be lumped with Dr Sant for practically another decade.

Floating voters and those who have no allegiance to any political party have had enough of Dr Sant. They blame him for having wasted the country more then 10 years, bickering over the EU membership issue. In 1996, Dr Sant put Malta's EU application in deep freeze and in doing so we missed the boat and had to pay a very hefty price. He led the shortest government in Malta since Malta gained Indipendence in 1964 and lost the 1998 general election. Many thought that was the end of Dr Sant, yet the man remained firmly in place and led the party for another five years up to the 2003 general election. He lost both the EU referendum and the 2003 election and people took it as given that Dr Sant would relinquish his post after the second electoral defeat. The unexpected happened and Dr Sant was once again confirmed as Labour leader. Now here he is again presenting himself before the electorate asking them to trust him as Malta's next Prime Minister. To add insult to injury he is trying to give the impression that he can bring about change because he is new. Dr Sant is anything but new.

Every now and again independent newspapers carry out election polls. One poll after the other has shown that an overwhelming majority of those interviewed do not trust Dr Sant as Prime Minister. Even when the polls indicated that Labour had an edge over the PN, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi repeatedly cruised past Dr Sant. An overwhelming majority of the electorate trust Dr Gonzi but they definitly do not trust Dr Sant.

Yet,the unexpected might happen and Dr Sant might very well end up as Malta's next Prime Minister, not because the people want him there but by default. Should floating voters and undecided Nationalists decide to vote for one of the smaller parties or abstain from voting, then Dr Sant will be Malta's next Prime Minister. That would be a very unhappy situtation, having as Prime Minister a person you absolutely do not want. Not an ideal situation, is it?

You don't vote for Dr Sant but instead abstain or vote Harry Vassallo or Josie Muscat and end up getting Dr Sant. We have already been there before. In the 2004 MEP elections a good chunk of pro-PN voters gave their number one preference to the AD candidate and then continued on the PN candidates; others abstained.

The AD candidate garnered a good number of votes but failed to make it to Brussels. Instead, the unexpected happened and Labour, which was staunchly against EU membership, elected the highest number of MEPs. In the 2004 MEP elections a vote for AD gave a resounding victory to Labour. What happened in 2004 can easily happen on March 8.

The choice on March 8 is between Dr Gonzi, who in just three years at the helm proved to be a safe pair of hands, and Dr Sant, who had 16 whole years to prove himself but failed miserably.

Change within Labour: you can make it happen.