Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1545651
EVERY political campaign needs a good slogan; a snappy phrase to energise voters and skewer op- ponents. Some slogans resonate beyond polling day, capturing a national mood or a moment in time. The term slogan as used in politics is derived from the Scottish terms slaughghairm or slogorne, which mean battle cry or war cry. The term slogan was first used in English in 1589. Party slogans are highly ef- fective communication tools in electoral campaigns, acting as memorable, concise summaries of a party's vision, ideology, and key priorities. They shape vot- er perception, build emotional connections, and often prove easier for voters to recall than specific policy details. Effective slogans can win elections by rallying supporters and simpli- fying complex political messag- es into impactful phrases. Take Labour's last elec- tion-winning slogan, for ex- ample: Int Malta: Il-Ħolma Tiegħek. Il-Proġett Tagħna (You are Malta: Your Dream. Our Project). Whatever polit- ical strategist was behind that slogan can legitimately claim to have cracked the formula for creating the perfect slogan. Others are dead on arrival, clunky, overcomplicated and unmemorable, capturing noth- ing much beyond the desper- ation of the committee that devised them. Momentum's slogan of Bidla ta' Vera (Real Change), as an example, failed to make an impact, as the abun- dant majority of the electorate clearly voted for continuity, be- ing wary of a sudden, unchart- ed change from what it has be- come accustomed to for more than a decade. The PN's last electoral slogan was probably such an example: Nifs Ġdid. Dan hu l-mument tiegħek (Fresh Start. This is your time). From day one, it clearly was not capable of reso- nating with voters of all political persuasions. It was never going to be a guarantee of electoral success. Such a slogan could never help if the party using it portrayed an artificial sense of unity and vision, with generic, incomprehensible policies that were not enough to win over floating and undecided voters. What happened during the last electoral campaign is prac- tically what has happened ever since Labour first won with an astounding majority back in 2013. At the time, the Labour Party, with Joseph Muscat at the helm, rolled out in a rather pompous fashion its slogan: Malta Tagħ- na Lkoll (A Malta that Belongs to All of Us). It's a historical, undeniable fact today that it was a slogan that succeeded in projecting a new identity in its quest to lure undecided and first-time voters. The PN's electoral slogan for that election tried to match La- bour's in its ingenuity and ef- fectiveness but failed miserably. Futur fis-sod – Xogħol, Saħħa, Edukazzjoni (A Strong Future – Work, Health, Education), accompanied by a flower with several hues, including red and white, the colours of the Mal- tese flag, at its base, turned out to be a failing, bland catch-all slogan. More so, as during that same electoral campaign, the PN made the wrong, self-defeat- ing move of attacking Labour's strategy by qualifying it with a secondary slogan of Labour Won't Work. The idea was to reduce voters' evaluation of the targeted Labour movement but ended up having a backlash ef- fect on the PN. Fast forward to the 2017 gen- eral election, and Labour came up with another striking and ultra-effective slogan of L-Aq- wa Żmien (The Best of Times) while the PN's counter-slogan, Jien Nagħżel Malta (I Choose Malta), once more failed to res- onate with the electorate. It had a corporate feel and definitely did not appeal, as evidenced by the landslide victory garnered by Labour. Ironically, for the 2022 gener- al election, Labour's slogan ap- parently took the cue from the PN's slogan for the preceding election, as it included the word Malta in it: Malta Flimkien (Malta Together), whereas the PN's slogan read: Miegħek għal Malta (With Your for Malta). While slogans in themselves are not enough for securing electoral victories, they tend to be emotional shortcuts or building blocks that have the potential to work across cul- tures and social classes. Voters instinctively know what miegħek, flimkien, l-aqwa żmien or futur fis-sod promise without needing a policy paper. They are also remarkably elas- tic: a socialist party, a conserv- ative party and a populist party can all bend the same words to their own story. Malta tagħna lkoll is probably the most memorable slogan of recent years. It was part of a trend for shorter, snappier slo- gans, with the three-word for- mula briefly being seen as a key to success, designed to trigger cognitive-emotional responses like enthusiasm and hope. Voters are more likely to re- member a catchy slogan than a politician's name, often associ- ating the slogan with the party's overall image. This will allow voters to make an informed judgement on whom to support. In this sense, political campaign slogans have remained critical to voter awareness and educa- tion. Political campaigns have grown into contests in which selecting a party demands the deployment of very inventive and creative communication and political marketing meth- ods. Slogans have evolved into an essential weapon for politi- cians seeking power to persuade the public to support them. But soon there may not be any slogans at all, in the traditional sense. Come the next general elec- tion, artificial intelligence will probably be used by our main- stream parties to craft messages tailored to the concerns of indi- vidual voters, delivered through social media and constantly refined to have the maximum impact. We can't exclude neurosci- ence, either, or the use of tools such as functional magnet- ic resonance imaging, which measures brain activity by de- tecting changes in blood flow, thus showing how people re- spond neurologically to polit- ical stimuli such as campaign ads, speeches and election slo- gans. Such trends could fundamen- tally change democratic poli- tics, reshaping competing par- ties' relationship with voters. They could also rob us of some irritatingly catchy elec- tion slogans! 10 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 1 JULY 2026 OPINION How effective are party slogans in electoral campaigns? Mark Said Veteran lawyer Such trends could fundamentally change democratic politics, reshaping competing parties' relationship with voters. They could also rob us of some irritatingly catchy election slogans!