Good morning, Malta

Good morning, Malta. By this time vote-counting is briskly picking up in the counting halls of the Electoral Commission at Ta' Qali. Late this afternoon or perhaps in the evening, the shape of the result will begin to emerge more clearly.

Was there a high turnout? Did voters slip their party harness? How did they vote? Did European issues matter? Were the opinion polls right, close or far off the mark in depicting what was going on out there prior to the vote? All these questions will be answered soon.

The European Movement (Malta) hopes that the most valid people in the group of some 27 candidates will be elected to the European Parliament, which has a say in deciding more than half of European laws.

We hope that none of the candidates still living in the distant past, the cavemen of Maltese politics, make it. We hope that the unrepentant stubborn-as-mules who refuse to accept the most basic rules of democracy - like Owen Bonnici who bragged that he would vote again against membership, given another chance - would have made it to that august chamber.

Looking back at the campaign we in the European Movement (Malta) were disappointed by the behaviour of the main political parties. John Attard Montalto's passionate appeal to MLP supporters and his urgings that they celebrate their impending "victory" with their flag and the torch symbol, tarnished somewhat an otherwise good image he had hitherto projected for himself. It threw us back a few decades.

Independent thinkers and floating voters were not amused. The outbursts of a particular Labour candidate on Xarabank did not please them either. Among the group of those who are in their 40s or older it rekindled images of a past which many of us have been trying to put behind our backs.

The Nationalist Party also started the campaign on the wrong foot by trying to denigrate Arnold Cassola on abortion. We will know soon how successful or not that tactical ploy was, or whether it misfired completely! We were flabbergasted by the tone of their campaign. How could the representative of the EPP in Malta, which has so many useful positive things to contribute to the process of European unity, waste its time in the old game of mud-slinging?

Who decided that a positive campaign based on the values of the EU and the principles of the EPP was less likely to attract votes than an American-style (Phil Noble) mud- slinging one?

They certainly did not gain points by harassing MLP candidate Louis Grech to declare how he voted in the referendum. Who really cares? He has now declared himself for Europe and that matters more.

And then even Dr Cassola made a serious gaffe when he compared Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to KMB. Prior to becoming Prime Minister, following his election to the leadership of the Nationalist Party, Dr Gonzi was elected a couple of times to the House of Representatives while KMB was first co-opted to Parliament since he had not stood for the 1981 election and subsequently made Prime Minister.

As Prime Minister KMB proved to all and sundry that he was unfit to rule the country as he presided over one of the bloodiest, most turbulent and violent chapters in Malta's political history. Dr Gonzi does not even approach within a billionth of a percentage point to that shameful record.

One general observation that can be made is that the sooner this country gets over the 2003 referendum and election hangover and begin to confront the real issues in order to make a success of EU membership, the better for all. Toiling wage earners, the unemployed, taxpayers, employers, entrepreneurs and all those who love this country want the human and material resources of this country to be united and employed to the optimal.

In the opinion of the European Movement this criticism also counts for the MLP. They certainly need to be more consistent on Europe and more open. EU membership provides them with that opportunity. Will they grasp it? By the way did you notice the almost complete absence from their campaign of the European flag? What is stopping them from waving it as well? The EU after all belongs to all. That flag is theirs as well.