Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/820803
Opinion 27 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 7 MAY 2017 also change this prerogative of the Prime Minister business. Parliament should agree on a fixed date every five years, similar to the US where elections are held every four years on the first Tuesday after 1 November (which means it is always between 2 November-8 November). How beautifully simple is that? It does not give the incumbent any unfair advantage to call an election when it suits him, and other events can be planned to avoid clashes. Because, of course, there is a clear downside for the PN about this snap election as it has caught them wrong- footed. (Although if they were assuming it would be 17 June I wonder why they did not have more of their strategy and political communications all ready to go?) In any case they have had to accelerate their plans and are scrambling to keep up while the Labour party obviously had a heads up and had everything in place much more quickly, including a sleek, fancy, new website. It's definitely not fair, but nothing's fair now that the whistle has been blown and we must brace ourselves to try and sift the truth from the relentless propaganda from all sides. Based on what I have seen so far, however, none of the slogans and billboards is exactly earth-shatteringly brilliant. Granted, many will argue that all this publicity material is money down the drain because most people don't base their decisions on a billboard. However, if you are going to make the effort, there should be some thought behind them rather than the usual predictable scaremongering vs. "we are living in paradise" scenario. Where is the wit and the humour, something which will make us at least sit up and take notice? I'm not the only one who is unimpressed. For example, I have read countless comments by Nationalist supporters who are complaining about the "He has let us all down" billboard showing Muscat's face in extreme close up. They seem to think it is too weak and not punchy enough to properly express all their moral outrage. They definitely prefer the Maltese version "Qarraq bina lkoll " which is more precisely translated as "He has deceived us all ". While it is clearly aimed at those who deserted the PN and voted Labour in 2013, there seems to be a lack of agreement about whether this slogan will really bring them back to the fold. On the Labour side, the slogan "L-Aqwa Żmien ghal Pajjiżna" (the best time for our country) has the requisite feel- good factor, but it completely ignores the concerns of those who are seriously worried that corruption seems to have infiltrated the top echelons of the country. The sarcastic rejoinder, "the best time for whom, for Muscat & Co.?" was quick to follow. The two parties have also chosen almost exact logos and colours, so much so that I saw a mail shot carrying one of the logos and after reading two lines I wondered why the PN was praising free childcare, a Labour initiative, only to realise that it was an email from the Labour Party. That kind of obfuscation may have been deliberate, but will only serve to confuse an electorate whose head is already spinning after just one week. Meanwhile, both sides are using banners to decorate rows of roadside barriers, which seems to be a new thing. Not only does the similarity of the logos become even more apparent, but it seems to be a case of overkill: I'm wondering how long I can keep reading " josephmuscat.com" or "I choose Malta" as I am driving along before I get the irresistible urge to stop my car and tear them all down? I admit to rather liking the PN's "I choose Malta" as a slogan even though it seems to have been plagiarized from Le Pen's French campaign. However, the absence of proper grammar in the Maltese version "Jien nagħżel Malta" has also driven grammar Nazis crazy (as has the obsessive use of a full stop with every PN slogan). But what does it really tell me about the PN leader and his vision for the country? As many Labour pundits were quick to point out, the PN is always ready to smear Malta's name (to get at Muscat), every chance they get when they speak at the Euro Parliament, which is a valid observation. So how can they now square this with their slogan? What I find interesting is that so far neither political party is using the image of their own leader in their billboards, probably to avoid the accusation of creating a personality cult. However, we cannot escape the fact that election campaigns are always about the two respective leaders and whom we will choose when we go to the polls. And any which way you slice it, that is the real choice before us: Who do we prefer to be the next Prime Minister? There is a clear downside for the PN about this snap election as it has caught them wrong-footed