Political debates should give the people the means to form a well informed opinion. Voters want to see a wind of change in the political arena. It should aim at promoting ideals and hope rather than biased truth or Behaviours.

With the date of the elections now at last set for the 10th December 2014, the campaigning will be intensified. It is the wish of the people that the conditions for fair and free elections be ensured by the various institutions, law and order be prevailed during the campaign, freedom and openness in the expression of opinions with responsibility and due respect, be encouraged.

The advent of the elections provides an opportunity for peaceful competition between political ideas and political actors for constructive criticisms and debates to take place with a view to inform the people of the choices they have. To help them in making well informed choices, the great majority of the people look forward to the quality of politicians in terms of convictions, honesty and sincerity, to the content of the program which will impact directly and positively on the quality of their life and to the guarantee that our democratic pillars and institutions will be reinforced for ensuring peace, unity, harmony and stability.

Listening to the voice of the people in the free and independent media, gives a view of the deep frustrations and discontent of the majority of the people. It could hence be gathered that the citizens are having enough of many things which are part of the political makeup today. The people are fed up with those career politicians who have no convictions other than being blind vociferous followers of their leaders. The people are having enough of those politicians with too many broken promises. The people are having enough of those driven by their selfish interests with too many aboutturns, somersaults and ease of turning coats.

The people have had enough of those who by lack of argumentation use all sorts of etiquettes and other denigratory means to belittle and stifle opposition. The people have enough of those who when in power, have preferred too many jobs for their own people, at the expense of “Putting People First” which remained a very sad illusionary experience. The people have enough of vague and empty slogans which do not provide immediate solutions to their pending problems. The people are having enough of the increased intertwining of those politicians with the socio-cultural groups for sectarian favors at the expense of meritocracy and unity. The people are against any attempts to modify the constitution which would disturb the prevailing stable socio-political environment. The people are saying: “Enough is Enough.’’

The way we do politics is unfortunately driving out of the political arena those people especially the young with hopeful, idealistic, forward-looking views and dispositions. Instead, we see more or less the same people, political careerists who see politics as a lucrative opportunity alongside all types of lobby be it ethnic, communal and business interests. There was a time in history when ideology, sound argumentation around a good cause and eloquent speechmaking created a momentum to clarify, enthuse and inspire for change. We have had experiences in the past where we reached full employment, increased prosperity for all and rising local enterprising spirit without any further tax burdens on the people.

Nowadays, political argumentation is biased mainly by the ability to obfuscate the truth in order to denigrate the opponents and to deprive people of cruciale information. What was good in the past is no better, simply because their friends of yesterday have become their enemy today. Nowadays, logical argument is not important. The political arena today is smeared with relentless attack accompanied by etiquettes like bourrique, batchiara against the opponents. Blaming the enemy for whatever has gone wrong, going up to the extent of unearthing very old dinosaurs, vehement repetition inciting hate and division against the enemy seems to be the order of the day. Politics are no more about ideals and no more an appeal to hope and positive aims. The people are saying NO to this obsession of systematic mud-slinging and slagging off opposition.

The people want to see the political class raising the competition among themselves to such level as to refrain from the practice of hate speech, electoral violence and defamation. Instead, constructive contradictory debates around the main themes should be preferred to give the people with the means to form a well informed opinion. As Hitler once said, “Good liars lie big. They lie big, lie repeatedly, lie with righteous anger and don’t get caught lying.”

It is also a known fact that leaders panic at the slightest wave of dissent and when they feel that the situation on the ground is far off their expectations. The people are not fixed deposits as people think, analyze and interpret the situation to make informed decisions which will go in their best interests. These are the ingredients which will determine the outcome of these elections which may not go according to the whims and fancies of the leaders and certainly will not follow any arithmetical equation, which some want us to believe. There are many factors and certainly not the simplistic arithmetical equation which influence the choice of the electorate. Indications are that the outcome of the forthcoming elections will not be decided upon by the few partisan die-hards, but by the big reservoir of the indecisive and those “VIRE MAM” changing allegiance, which constitute a majority.