With less than a week to go before the polling booths open for the Maltese electorate to cast their votes and make their choice for the future of this country, both parties have presented their plans, their visions and their candidates to the people.
In just a few days’ time, the Maltese people will be able to exercise their Constitutional right to choose the party they feel would best govern Malta for the next five years. Their choice will go beyond political colours and party anthems, it will go far beyond family tradition and the continuation of anachronistic loyalties.
Voting in the 21st century is no longer a question of unwavering sentimental attachment to a particular political party regardless of the solidity of that party’s promises and track record. This political maturity has developed along with the progress our country has experienced over the last 15 years. Voters have experienced well-being, they have seen difficult situations tackled and resolved, they have all participated in crucial national projects such as the preparations for EU membership and adoption of the Euro. Today’s voters are not going to fooled by a rush of off-the-cuff words, knee-jerk policies and mad-cap promises that are meaningless and even potentially dangerous unless they fit into a long term vision with solid roots and a well prepared environment and infrastructure.
The crucial choice the Maltese voters will make on 8 March will dictate the kind of system under which they, and all of us, shall live. They will be selecting the lifestyle, the progress, the potential and the future opportunities for themselves and their children.
This crucial choice will also give them the opportunity to select the individual politicians, the people that they want to run this system. The people they feel can be trusted with their future and the future of their children and grandchildren.
Elections come once every five years, but the legacy of government voted into power can linger on for much longer. With the right people at the helm of government, drawing up the right policies for Malta, implementing plans and projects to secure our future and our prosperity, Malta has the potential to succeed on all levels: in education, in industry, in finance, in tourism, as a society and as an independent nation with a role to play in the international community.
Therefore it is important that the electorate also looks carefully at the individual candidates themselves before casting their votes. Malta needs and deserves political leaders and representatives of the highest quality. Malta needs and deserves political leaders and representatives who have the ability to fulfill all the promises that our people, our country, can strive for and can achieve.
But what makes a politician of quality? What are the elements to consider when making your choice? How should a voter choose between this candidate or the other? While it is never easy making such an important decision, there are three essential qualities, three pillars, that voters should look out for in any candidate: Integrity, Track Record and Vision.
Integrity means honesty, dignity and a commitment to doing the right thing. Integrity means decency and truthfulness and respect, for the nation, for the institution of government, for the people and for fellow politicians. In the run-up to elections, politicians who indulge in personal attacks on fellow candidates, throwing out wild insults and unsustained accusations, are choosing an easy, but ultimately doomed tactic: such strategies invariably indicate a total lack of integrity and therefore a total unsuitability to govern our country.
Track records show you what that candidate is capable of achieving, both in his or her private career and in whatever public position they may have held. If he or she has already been in government before, what did he/she achieve during the term of office? In his/her private profession or career, how successful have they been?
Vision is the final but equally essential pillar upon which voters should base their choice of candidate. Politicians with vision can look ahead to the future and see where they want to take the country as well as how to achieve it. Vision means looking far ahead in order to plan today for tomorrow’s success. Vision means identifying a goal and then preparing the ground to achieve it. Vision means knowing how to implement measures that will take us closer to our ambition. Vision means making promises that we can keep and that we know will lead to ultimate success.
In our system, the electorate has the chance not only to choose the direction that he wants the country to take through choosing the party to govern, but also the individuals within that party whom he wants to implement the policies that will give that direction. Choosing the right people, the right individuals, to run our country will secure the bright future that we and our families deserve.

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