Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1440009
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 JANUARY 2022 Raphael Vassallo OPINION Elections in the time of Omicron IMAGINE (just for the heck of it) that we were all watching an episode of that classic quiz show, 'Who Wants To Be A Million- aire?' The following question pops up on the screen: "As the New Year begins: what would you say is the single number one cause for public concern in Malta right now?" (And yes, I know it's not exactly a legitimate quiz-show question – too subjective, no single answer, etc. – BUT…. just run along with it for now, will you?) These, on the other hand, are the four possible answers to choose from: A) Omicron B) An impending recession, on account of the global effects of the pandemic; C) The fact that an election will somehow have to be held, slap-bang in the middle of a national health emergency, by next June at the latest (more of which in a sec); and lastly… D) David Thake's tax returns. Hmmm. Tough one, isn't it? No wonder so many people go crashing out of that quiz-show, on the very first (and easiest) round of questions… Because it all ultimately de- pends on who's doing the an- swering; and, more specifical- ly… WHEN. Ask that same question out in the streets today… and there can be no doubt about it what- soever. The above options are actually listed out, in the pre- cise order of their current pri- ority status. Overwhelmingly, the Omicron variant has pole- vaulted directly to the Num- ber One spot: closely followed by fears of an imminent (and seemingly unavoidable) eco- nomic crisis. As for the rest, however… well, it's up to you where to slot them in, really. My own choice for Number Three, for instance: I'll admit it's proba- bly quite far down the list, right now (though something tells me that it will shoot right up to surface, in no time at all…) But David Thake's tax returns? In all seriousness, though: is there even a single Maltese cit- izen out there – apart from Da- vid Thake himself, of course… oh, and also Ian Castaldi Paris… not to mention the long-suffering Standards Com- missioner George Hyzler, who has YET AGAIN been drafted into action (and on New Year's Eve, too. I mean, give the guy a break, will you?)… and… … Oh, alright: maybe there are a few random thousand people out there (mostly social media trolls) who genuinely consider David Thake's tax is- sues to be some kind of 'major news event'. But from the perspective of just about everybody else: it is the equivalent of arguing over 'whose turn it is to stand watch on board the Titanic'… after the ship has already collided with the iceberg, and is slowly starting to sink. Ah, but then again: that tells us more about the present cli- mate, than about the issue at hand. I have no intention of wading into the nitty-gritty of David Thake's VAT payment history – that's George Hyzler's job now (which reminds me: is there such a thing as a 'Hard- est Worker of the Year Award' in Malta? If so: no prizes for guessing 2021's winner…). But I can certainly appreciate how – placed in the context of Malta's greylisting; and the Opposition's claim to be the only party with the 'credibility' to solve our reputation issues, etc. – a story like that would, in ordinary times, be much higher up the news relevance charts. In fact, the only reason that Malta's social media circuit hasn't already exploded with commentary about it, is pre- cisely because Thake's tax problems have been overshad- owed – nay, trampled under- foot – by the onset of a much graver concern named 'Omi- cron'. So – even if just to inject a small note of optimism, in what has otherwise been the 'unhap- piest' start possible to a 'New Year' - we can, at least, be just a tiny bit grateful to this ghastly Covid variant, over one small thing. It has certainly helped us get our national priorities straight, for a change…. Right: enough about taxation for now… for there are still those other three options to tackle (we haven't actually an- swered the original question yet, remember?) I won't bother with the first two, for now – there are, after all, far better-placed people to comment about Omicron it- self; or our national effort to stave off a recession, and all the rest... Instead, I will limit myself to what was previously the undis- puted, number one 'Topic of National Concern' par excel- lence. Yep, that's right, folks: the next election… which is scheduled (on paper, at least) to take place any time between now, and the beginning of next summer. Admittedly, that timeframe does give us a small window of opportunity to avoid the worst of the present spike. For there is a fair chance that (as happened between March and June last year) the numbers will stabilize – or at least, become more manageable - by the time the election is held. But there is also an equally reasonable chance that… um… they won't. And besides: the Constitution also imposes lim- its to how long the call itself can be delayed. The very latest Robert Abela can announce the election date – and thus kick off a six-week campaign - is the second week of April. So unless the current crisis is somehow brought to heel by that date… and also factoring in the possibility of a second Omicron wave by then (or, for that matter, the emergence of a whole new variant)… Ooh, I don't know. How would a situation like that ac- tually pan out in practice, an- yway? There are, I suppose, a few random aspects which would not be affected one tiny bit. Af- ter all, Omicron does little to deter the erection of billboards all over the island (or stuffing our mailboxes with junk-mail, etc.). And there are also tried- and-tested ways of staging live televised debates, without breaking social distancing reg- ulations. Mass meetings, on the other hand – and even 'not-so-mass meetings', of the variety we are now more used to - would nat- urally have to go. But that, in itself, does nothing to seriously disrupt an election: still less, to prevent one from happening at all. (Indeed, it may even prove a blessing in disguise: at least, for a certain political that would now struggle to fill up even a phone-booth… let alone, the Fosos.) Matters do become slight- ly more complicated, though, when it comes to the counting process. It goes without saying that all the usual crowd-gath-