Ideally, members of parliament are seasoned, respectable members of society. They would have used their years of service to build alliances with constituents, commerce and civil society.

Ideally, their membership of the House of Representatives serves to contribute their expertise, experience and unique qualities to better democracy. Ideally, MPs strive daily for an enhanced democratic structure that furthers the citizens’ interest through swift and effective recognition and the combatting of problems and through attentive and sensitive law-making.

Realistically, we have Konrad Mizzi.

I’m running because we need a parliament with MPs who don’t spend most of their time bending the rules and then the rest of their time jumping through hoops to hide their wrongdoing.

We have had the second prime minister in a row seen to be consorting with criminals. What message does this send to my generation and to millennials, who are progressing against the overlapping crises that gripped Malta in recent years?

Young people are starting to shy away from voting because we have nobody to vote for. The Labour movement has turned out to be a post-Soviet style kleptocracy with state resources being dished out to keep just enough people happy.

Rather than investing in new, innovative areas to make us a competitive economy bustling with productive, motivated citizens, the reality is more troubled. We have an economy based on unsustainable construction and a financial sector that is buckling under the weight of inept apparatchiks scratching each other’s backs and stomping on laws they themselves voted through.

For Malta’s youth, the solution seems to be found in the departure lounge of Malta International Airport. Daphne Caruana Galizia half-jokingly wrote about hearing a gurgling sound (Malta’s future down the plug hole). It’s no wonder that an absolute majority of us dream of packing our bags and taking off to mainland Europe.

Because it’s not just about receiving a pay cheque at the end of the month. People I speak to, Maltese and foreigners alike, complain about one thing above all: impunity.

A country is about more than its financial credit rating. It is essential that our society is imbued once again with a rich sense of justice and freedom that has been uglily snatched from us by the interminable sagas of crime and corruption.

It’s bad enough that some of our public spaces are becoming dangerous to walk alone at night if you’re a woman. If our police are not even able to secure our streets, how can we expect them to effectively police the powerful?

Can we honestly say that our parliament is actively doing something about young disenfranchisement, when it is composed disproportionately of men over 40? We can gloat over giving 16-year-olds the vote. If the youngest MP is more than double their age, what political stake are we affording 20-year-olds?

Young people want to contribute to their country. It starts in parliament- Eve Borg Bonello

I’m running because we need more women and a younger parliament. Without forgetting our history, we need to look to the future. Without giving up our past, we have to work in the present. That means dedicating precious time to solving the problems that really matter.

While climate change is making our summer months unbearable, threatening our water resources, agriculture and biodiversity, rampant construction ensues. Meanwhile, the airwaves are choked with wasteful, over-the-top displays of inane circuses financed by our taxes. Instead of funding our libraries, improving our education or climate-proofing our communities, we get wasteful inaugurations, inexcusable direct orders and the Malta Film Awards.

I’m running because what I lack in birthdays, I make up for with a track record of sticking my neck out for what needs to be said. My track record is known.

In the past five years, I have spoken out in favour of a better, fairer Malta. Since the Panama Papers, I have consistently campaigned for good governance, when good governance meant not having government ministers use their power to enrich themselves off our taxes.

Nobody should get death threats for doing so. If I can call the sum of my moments in politics a ‘career’, then what I’ve managed to do is make corrupt people really angry with me. Some established politicians have, in turn, made a career in rousing animosity against legitimate criticism. We know how dark a turn this can take.

I’m running because we need more strong voices to ask the difficult questions and stand up to those who do not have Malta’s best interests at heart. How often do we hear politicians harp on about Malta’s youth? How often are they held accountable by the young people they love to talk about?

Young people want to contribute to their country. It starts in parliament.

I have no doubt of the challenges that lie ahead. But I can offer a voice for our futures, a voice that will stand up to Robert Abela’s false pledges on the rule of law and his covering-up of his friends’ wrongdoing. I will continue to stand up to corruption, to stand up to the political takeover of our institutions and in favour of a stronger democracy that serves to benefit all Malta’s inhabitants. Not just the few.

I have no doubt of the challenges that lie ahead.

I’m running because I believe in a Malta where this voice can overcome them.

Eve Borg Bonello, PN candidate