Election Playbook: It’s voting week!!

The week ahead: It’s going to be a long week. Last Saturday, voters residing in St Vincent de Paul and other residence homes cast their votes, as did those registered for early voting. Meanwhile, in-patients recovering at Gozo General Hospital and Mater Dei, Karin Grech and Mount Carmel Hospitals are voting on Thursday 6 June. The rest of us head to the polls on 8 June. See you at the voting station!

Propoganda-watch: Labour’s campaign ads have taken on a patronising tone lately. “We have price stability schemes on essential products, and others want to remove them entirely. Ara x’tagħmel tivvotax.” The phrase verges somewhere between the condescending and threatening. Somewhere between “you sure you don’t want to vote?” and “don’t you dare not vote”. Meanwhile, ADPD are sticking with a simple campaign ad that sees their four candidates trying to convince you that an ADPD in the European Parliament will be worth it for you.

Our guide to EU political families: Still a bit lost when it comes to the European Parliament? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. The Nationalist Party’s European family is the European People’s Party, which has dominated EU politics and holds most of the top jobs in the EU institutions. It carries pro-EU conservatives, economic liberals as well as Christian-Democrats. Meanwhile the Labour Party belongs to the Party of European Socialists, or S&D. This grouping is rooted in the principles of social democracy and progressivism, and the belief that the government has a responsibility to ensure social welfare and equality. Then there’s the European Greens, to which ADPD belongs to. Independent candidate Arnold Cassola used to be its secretary-general. This is Europe’s main formation of green, environmentalist and progressive parties.

The Vitals strategy: Now that we’re mere days away from the election, it’s a good time to reflect on the Labour Party’s ‘Vitals strategy’. MaltaToday spoke with Labour Party insiders on this, and the feeling is that the party is sacrificing its future for short-term success by pandering to voters who would have voted Labour either way. Die-hard Labour supporters were certainly mobilised when Joseph Muscat was arraigned in court last week. And the ‘Establishment’ narrative might have helped mobile a few other supporters too. And in an election where Labour is evidently worried about turnout – hence a lot of campaign adverts focused on getting out the vote – grassroots mobilisation could be the difference between a Labour majority and a Labour supermajority.