Opinion: Power, vision and elections – Ranier Fsadni
The people have spoken but, once more, in tongues. Saturday’s vote makes short work of just about every pet theory making the rounds.
Do you think the country has a natural Labour majority? Doesn’t square with the brute fact that only 45 per cent of eligible voters endorsed Labour.
You think this election punished the ‘Blue Heroes’, the Nationalist MPs associated with the ouster of the former leader, Adrian Delia? Please explain how both pro- and anti-Delia MPs lost seats – sometimes on the same district.
Seats were won by new pro-and anti-Delia candidates alike. One-third of the PN’s seats (nine out of the initial 27) belong to freshman MPs.
Almost all veteran Nationalist MPs saw their stock fall with voters. Part of the answer lies in the particularities of each district. A larger part rests on the strategic decision to promote new candidates relentlessly.
As for that greatest of pet theories – that this country has an absolute majority of amoral voters, happy “to vote for corruption” – how does that fare? Badly, as always. Except it’s even more clear this time.
This theory has always had a dubious appeal to intellectual authority (a facepalm-inducing reference to anthropology).