Parliament: Out with the old, in with the new
While the election result – Labour’s massive victory – came as no surprise, the electorate passed on a strong message in the 26 March general election, in the form of who it voted into Parliament, and those it left out.
Perhaps the biggest upset of them all was Jason Azzopardi’s failure to get elected. While Azzopardi was loved and despised by Nationalists in equal measure, the fact is he was one of the main political figures over the past few years, active both as an MP and as a lawyer in some very highprofile cases, even representing the family of slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
It was already a surprise that Azzopardi failed to get elected in the first round of the election, but even more so that he failed to make it to Parliament in the PN casual election held yesterday.
The Paola MP had been elected in every single election since 1998, but this time round he was ditched by Nationalist voters, who preferred his sidekick Karol Aquilina and Sliema mayor Graziella Attard Previ.
One has to assume that the reasons behind Azzopardi’s political demise include his part in the efforts to oust former party leader Adrian Delia, something which many PN supporters have not forgotten nor forgiven, and his firebrand nature, which at times saw him lash out at Delia in defiance of instructions given by his party leader. Perhaps his negative attitude and hate of everything Labour – his incessant social media posts criticising all the government did - was another reason why voters chose to keep him out of Parliament. Perhaps people were fed up of someone who attacked Labour scandals when he had his fair share of scandals during his time in office.
The same can be said for Edwin Vassallo, who has also failed to get elected. It seems that the Maltese are getting tired of this style of politician and probably blame them for the PN’s never-ending electoral woes.
The same thing has been witnessed on the Labour Party’s side, with veterans like Evarist
Bartolo, Jose Herrera, Joe Mizzi and Anthony Agius Decelis being shown the door. The reasons here, however, could be different.
In some cases, these former MPs might have been kicked out for their ineptness, in other cases, for their outspokenness and criticism of their own party. Age could also be a factor.
One thing is for sure: people have given a clear message that they want change.
People want to see new faces in Parliament, and new faces they got. It is very positive to see that both parties have elected young new faces to the House, giving the upcoming Parliamentary groups a much-needed makeover.
One now hopes that this process continues when the gender quota mechanism kicks in, increasing the number of women in Parliament.
One also hopes that this process to oust political ‘dinosaurs’ and elect fresh MPs will lead to a new, more mature and civilised style of politics, one which this country deserves, and which is long overdue.