Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1545107
11 maltatoday | THURSDAY • 28 MAY 2026 OPINION Why none of the options convinced me ELECTION 2026 Sure, it was good that we had a campaign without mudslinging and unproven allegations which only strengthened Labour in past elections. Nobody yearned for a return to the 2017 election, but neither can one ignore what happened to Caruana Galizia a few months later and what led to the resignation of Joseph Muscat in 2019. Neither did we see the PN promise to dismantle the cur- rent planning regime which is sick beyond cure. We live in a country where heritage is liter- ally knocked down—vide Fort Chambray—or buried under apartment blocks, like the newly discovered catacombs in Qawra. Nonetheless, we have an Oppo- sition which chases the hares while hunting with hounds. There is logical sense in the ar- gument that the only way to nar- row the gap and bring Labour down to size is by voting for the PN. But apart from finding it hard to imagine a PN-led gov- ernment next Monday, the ide- ological disconnection with the PN runs deep in my veins and, in some instances, this disconnec- tion reached new heights during the campaign. Considering all this, pegging my nose simply to give Labour a lesson is a step too far especially when on several key issues the alternative looks worse. The problem with third parties I have great respect for Arnold Cassola, whom I have known for 35 years, during which he fully invested his life in combatting the abuse of power by succes- sive governments. Momentum has not participated in the na- tional auction or in bashing foreigners, and has even dared to propose taxes on vacant properties and speculation. But I can't really understand Mo- mentum's strategy of targeting conservatives and pale-blue voters. These voters are more likely to unite behind the new face of the PN than vote for a party whose election to parlia- ment is unlikely. Moreover, one of the lim- its of third-party politics is the failure to identify with the progressive camp. Sure, at the present juncture Labour de- serves a drubbing and a wake- up call. But in the long-term, centre-left parties are bound to converge against the threat posed by a creeping conserva- tism. As regards ADPD, their cam- paign was more rudimentary than Momentum's. But San- dra Gauci, in her finest mo- ment, did manage to establish an emotional connection with working-class voters who are fed up with Labour's sleaze. "My father may have worked to clean other people's rubbish. But I am entering politics so I can clean parliament from cor- ruption," Gauci said during the university leaders' debate. This may well be the most convincing argument to go out and vote for someone on election day. Had ADPD giv- en more of this, they may well have left a greater mark on this election. This is because third parties need to win the minds and hearts of ordinary peo- ple instead of lecturing and guilt-tripping them from a pul- pit. As regards the far right, I think that the lurch to the right by both the PN and the PL has rendered them irrelevant. But while neutralising the far right, both parties have sown the seeds of division which would make Malta fertile ground for the far right the moment our economic model fails to deliv- er. Then there is the option of not voting. Sure, voting is a civ- ic duty, but not voting is also a right and a legitimate option. Trying to guilt-trip people who can't bring themselves to vote is like blaming them for the poor choices that are being of- fered instead of those making the offerings. Sure, in the final instance my sense of civic du- ty is likely to prevail, but I can perfectly understand why some will give this election a pass. This was the fifth election I have followed and analysed as a MaltaToday journalist. It was also the most bizarre one because, in the absence of a do-or-die issue, we were regaled with a circus-like potlatch of promises. So why did the competing options remain unconvincing until the end?