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Another round of elections are ahead of the Maltese and Gozitan electorate and once again the Nationalist Party and the Malta Labour Party want to have the cake and eat it, just by themselves and to the exclusion of any other party.
But this time round we have the chance to break the PN/MLP stronghold on the Maltese electorate once and for all. Both the Prime Minster and the Leader of the Opposition have been harping to one and all that we ought to give our vote to those candidates who are competent and have been consistent and steadfast in their European beliefs. There is only one candidate who fits the bill perfectly – Arnold Cassola.
Thank you Arnold and Alternattiva Demokratika. On your own and against all odds (Broadcasting Authority, Net TV, Radio 101, Super 1, TV and Radio) you have managed to drive Dr Gonzi’s government and his party machine almost crazy. First they told us the Green Party in the European Parliament is so small and insignificant that voting for Arnold would be wasting one’s vote. Within two weeks the green group were deemed such a big threat that Dr Gonzi was publicly instructing his lieutenants to go to war to stop the Greens’ tax on tourism (another fabrication). In the meantime Dr Gonzi was blowing a huge balloon with the words ‘abortion’ written all over it in his attempt to mobilise the conservative electorate against Arnold Cassola, but this balloon soon exploded in his face. The latest gimmick attempted by the PN spin doctors is to order a complete blackout of the name Arnold Cassola and/or The Green Party on their media in an attempt to wipe out their existence in the minds of the diehards who only watch Net TV and listen to Radio 101 only. This will fail too.
One of the highlights of this campaign has been the still open challenge from AD’s chairperson Dr Harry Vassallo to Dr Lawrence Gonzi both as PM and NP leader.
If only Dr Gonzi has the courage to accept this challenge for an open debate on Net TV between the two we would have the opportunity to decide which of the two sides has the best policies for the future of Malta and Gozo within the European Union reality.
May I remind all and sundry what happened at the Luxol Grounds on the last day of the April 2003 election campaign. The then PM and PN leader had conned us all to believe that a vote for AD would be putting in jeopardy the entry of Malta in the EU as he told the people that the two big parties were neck to neck.
As if he did not know that his party had a +10,000 majority as all polls had been indicating. My gut instinct tells me that today’s Prime Minister will come up with some sort of dirty trick, as his predecessor had done before him, prior to next Saturday’s election, against Arnold Cassola and AD. My advice is: Do not believe him.
Henry John Balzan
San Gwann
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