The March 8 general election has finally exploded the myth that the hunters’ lobby is influential in Maltese politics, as the Federazzjoni Kaccarturi Nassaba u Konservazzjonsti (FKNK) has been indirectly claiming for years.
Speaking during a rally at Zebbug a week before on 2 March, FKNK President Joe Buttigieg said the Malta Labour Party (MLP) had given hunters written declarations, promising to safeguard their hobby. He called on hunters to vote for those candidates in favour of hunting and trapping, and whose party was prepared to help them.
“We have been asked why we are not holding protests. Our biggest protest will take place on March 8,” he said to the cheering crowd.
Before March 8, the FKNK had also signed an agreement with far-right party Azzjoni Nazzjonali (AN) in which it was promised that spring hunting would be retained.
The spring hunting season was one of the issues discussed during this electoral campaign, after the European Commission filed a case against Malta with the European Court of Justice, calling for urgent interim measures to stop hunting during the breeding season, which is prohibited by European law.
The temperature was raised even further after cars belonging to BirdLife activists were set on fire at Buskett. A week later, BirdLife billboards promoting the abolition of spring hunting were vandalised.
So if all the 17,000 hunters and their families (totalling 68,000, assuming each hunter to have an average of four people in his family) were really as keen on their pastime as the FKNK claimed, then AN would have at least a seat in Parliament and the MLP would have won by a landslide over the PN.
However, AN only obtained 1,461 first count votes – half the votes obtained by anti-hunting AD – and the MLP gained only 7,000 votes from the PN when compared to the 2003 general election: not enough to give Labour an electoral victory.
In fact, the PN, which was set to lose thousands of votes after the FKNK accused it of betraying its 1998 and 2003 electoral promise that spring hunting would be retained – lost only 2,000 votes when compared to the 2003 general election.
When the FKNK contested the 2004 European Parliament elections with its own candidate, federation secretary Lino Farrugia obtained 3,119 first-count votes – which means that only 4.59% of registered hunters and their families voted for the FKNK candidate.
This time it seems that not even those few voters who voted for the hunters’ lobby four years ago followed suit in the 2008 general elections, leaving the hunters’ claims to electoral influence looking somewhat like a lame duck.

The far-right flop
Another casualty claimed by the March 8 general elections is the so-called immigration factor.
When far-right party Azzjoni Nazzjonali (AN) was founded in June last year by former Nationalist MP Josie Muscat, all hell broke loose at the PN. The new party was seen to be catering to the far-right fringe in the PN, which had been rattling its sabres against the centrist policies of the Eddie Fenech Adami and Lawrence Gonzi governments.
In fact, AN was the crystallisation of the far right movement which had been manifesting itself in Malta in the past few years, as the number of asylum seekers landing in this country seemed to increase exponentially.
The party’s campaign was well-funded and extremely well-organised, with costly backdrops, glossy manifestos and daily press events. Its manifesto appealed in particular to the self-employed and entrepreneurs, promising a 18% flat tax on earnings both for individuals as well as companies.
However, AN polled a dismal 1,461 first-count votes when the party was aiming for much more, at least with top-notch candidates like party leader Josie Muscat (who obtained 115 first count votes on the second district and 159 first count votes on the third) and deputy leader Angelo Xuereb (who obtained 118 first count votes on the eleventh district and 108 first count votes on the twelfth district).
Likewise, Imperium Europa leader Norman Lowell failed to repeat the relatively promising showing he had during the European Parliament elections in 2004, when he obtained 1,603 first-count votes.
This time, Lowell obtained 48 first-count votes on the eleventh district and 36 first-count votes on the twelfth, polling a measly total of 84 votes.
Another far-right candidate, James Shaun Cauchi, obtained 15 votes on the ninth district and seven votes on the tenth district, polling an even more measly total of 22 votes.

czahra@mediatoday.com.mt