To vote or not to vote? That is the question.

Apart from the usual discourse of voting being both a right and a civic duty, why should one vote? Why not leave it up to others? These are the questions posed on theDailySpot #31.

Every vote matters in a country as small as Malta, especially when it comes to electing individual candidates into Parliament. 

A closer look at the Nationalist and the Labour manifesto reveals different priorities, and proposals that will have a different impact on our country. 

It’s no secret that we are currently facing a number of unprecedented challenges. The yet-unknown long-term ramifications of the pandemic, a war in Europe, the price of energy and other essentials. 

It’s the right time to benefit from things like stability in electricity, gas and fuel prices, free childcare, free school transport, good quality healthcare, available medicines, no new taxes, positive government budgets, and so on. These are things that affect us on a personal level, but also our entire economy. 

It’s the right time to benefit from things like stability in electricity, gas & fuel prices, free childcare, free school transport, good quality healthcare…

On a different spectrum, we also now take for granted the countless civil rights we enjoy. Government no longer discriminates against you because of your sexual orientation. Or even worse, because of some religious dogma, deprives you of the right to have a family. 

Malta now tops all civil liberties score sheets in a legal and socio-cultural environment that celebrates diversity. 

Using clean fuel for electricity generation is also a given now. The days of having two heavy fuel power plants, one in the center of Malta and another in the South, are long gone. As are the days of going through endless potholes and lengthy car repair bills due to the sorry state of what used to be Malta’s road network. 

Is Malta heaven on earth? Hell no. It’s exactly why we need to participate, as much as possible, in giving it a chance to continue improving. 

On the issue of Governance, Malta’s greylisting is obviously not something to be proud of. But the record-breaking advances of the last few months are. 

Here we are dealing with a typical case of turning a potential disaster into a remarkable opportunity. 

Through hard work, Government managed to attain impressive progress, and analysts in the field predict that Malta is on a fast track to being taken off the grey list later this year. This will put Malta at the forefront, where its already strong economy will be boosted, with a fresh certificate of accountability that will attract tremendous business potential. 

The Robert Abela administration has shown that it can address issues rapidly and efficiently in a strategy that focuses on the elements that matter most in the long-term. 

The Maltese people have higher expectations when it comes to the environment, and rightly so. A central priority of the Labour Party manifesto, and in addition to a countless list of environment-friendly measures, there is a €700 million investment in open spaces, to ensure that nobody is ever more than 10 minutes away from a green space.

These initiatives will work to make Malta a better place. So if you want to risk letting others take all this away from you, or decide on your behalf, stay home. 

The choice is yours to be relevant for Malta’s future, because the future is bright, and everyone deserves to be part of it.