john07
Labour & Co-operative
Posts: 15,785 
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Post by john07 on Jun 5, 2017 8:48:24 GMT
Maltese politics are incredibly tribal. I have known a few Maltese from both camps. I had a drink with a former postgraduate student who came over for a year to Edinburgh to study at Heriot-Watt. I asked him about his political affiliation and he confirmed he was a Nationalist. He added that had he lived in Scotland, he would been a Labour supporter. Indeed his uncle was a former Labour Councillor from Leith. In Malta Labour and the Nationalists form two 'laager'. It will take more than a dose of corruption and a couple of defections to break the power of tribal politics for most voters. That's true, but the scale of the Labour victory is spectacular by Maltese standards. The Labour tribe is more solid, and it has added the LGBT community to its numbers as well as others who were appalled by PN's social conservatism (re divorce). While I'm with them on the social issues, the extent of government criminality should eclipse all of that. I can recall when Dom Mintoff was Labour leader that a majority of one seat in Malta was a regular outcome. Then Mintoff picked up a majority of three to amazement all round. |
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Post by Merseymike on Jun 5, 2017 11:32:25 GMT
Its also interesting how popular singers take a very active part in politics - Chiara (ESC entrant 1998, 2005, 2009) switched from PL to PN over the Europe issue, thopugh her father was on the PL executive, so it was quite a major shift - but she is also very much the symbol of the gay rights movement and sang the theme song of the campaign, and apparently she's now back with PL.
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Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 5, 2017 11:59:57 GMT
If it hadn't been for the meddling of the Catholic Church, Malta might be taking part in our general election!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2017 12:05:39 GMT
If it hadn't been for the meddling of the Catholic Church, Malta might be taking part in our general election! It certainly would have addd some colourful characters to the Labour bench. The Creole population on Mauritius originally wanted the island to be incorporated into the UK (fearing Indian domination if it became independent). That would have been an interesting constituency as well. |
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Post by yellowperil on Jun 5, 2017 12:38:24 GMT
If it hadn't been for the meddling of the Catholic Church, Malta might be taking part in our general election! It certainly would have addd some colourful characters to the Labour bench. The Creole population on Mauritius originally wanted the island to be incorporated into the UK (fearing Indian domination if it became independent). That would have been an interesting constituency as well. The leading Lib Dem borough and county councillor in Ashford (ok , now the only Lib Dem borough and county councillor in Ashford) is George Koowaree and he is of that background, so if George is at all typical yes that would have been very interesting. Certainly George is good at winning elections - I think the record against considerable odds is fought 12,won 12. Quite chaotic, but always comes up smiling! |
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john07
Labour & Co-operative
Posts: 15,785
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Post by john07 on Jun 5, 2017 13:02:41 GMT
If it hadn't been for the meddling of the Catholic Church, Malta might be taking part in our general election! Former leader of the Socialist Labour Party and First Minister Joe Bossano wanted much the same for Gibraltar at one stage. |
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Post by Merseymike on Jun 5, 2017 19:32:11 GMT
Its also interesting how popular singers take a very active part in politics - Chiara (ESC entrant 1998, 2005, 2009) switched from PL to PN over the Europe issue, thopugh her father was on the PL executive, so it was quite a major shift - but she is also very much the symbol of the gay rights movement and sang the theme song of the campaign, and apparently she's now back with PL. Sorry, Mike, but no, Chiara is very much not the symbol of the gay rights movement. EDIT: but this Eurovision entrant has been a PN MP since 2013 (crap song, but she's actually a good jazz singer, and a sound MP) I'm a Eurovision fan - and she certainly is! Best two results for Malta, along with 7th Wonder... Yes, Claudette Pace is a decent singer though her entry was very overblown ..... rather have Chiara any day! |
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Post by Merseymike on Jun 5, 2017 20:22:09 GMT
I'm a Eurovision fan - and she certainly is! Best two results for Malta, along with 7th Wonder... Yes, Claudette Pace is a decent singer though her entry was very overblown ..... rather have Chiara any day! Mike, I must admit I'm not a Eurovision fan and I'm not gay, but I do know a little bit about most things Malta-related. If any Eurovision entrant is a gay icon, that would have to be Ira Losco. But none of them could be described as a symbol of the movement by any stretch of the imagination. I'm reflecting what my Maltese ESC friends say (and they are all gay) - though actually, adherence to singers is as strong as adherence to politics. Chiara sang at the main gay rights rally and sang the theme song of the campaign - she has a very significant gay following. |
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Post by greenhert on Jun 5, 2017 21:12:13 GMT
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Post by Merseymike on Jun 5, 2017 21:34:48 GMT
I'm reflecting what my Maltese ESC friends say (and they are all gay) - though actually, adherence to singers is as strong as adherence to politics. Chiara sang at the main gay rights rally and sang the theme song of the campaign - she has a very significant gay following. I'm sure she does, but that doesn't make her a symbol of anything. The movement is led by people - many of whom I know well - who have zero to very little interest in Eurovision as a general rule. Or maybe I just tune out the Eurovision stuff, but that's not easily achieved with facebook algorithms. ah right - well my Maltese contacts are mostly utterly obsessed with Eurovision. Did you know it has the highest percentage of viewers of any country? Rumours about dodgy deals with Azerbaijan, who received a remarkable number of 'douze points' from them.... |
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Post by Merseymike on Jun 5, 2017 22:14:20 GMT
ah right - well my Maltese contacts are mostly utterly obsessed with Eurovision. Did you know it has the highest percentage of viewers of any country? Rumours about dodgy deals with Azerbaijan, who received a remarkable number of 'douze points' from them.... I did hear those rumours, but am more concerned about kickbacks for purchasing oil and gas from Azerbaijan. A new 'boutique' bank in Malta is the subject of several financial intelligence investigations involving Aliyev's family, the Maltese PM, his chief of staff and other associates. I think the two things were connected - Azerbaijan were very keen to win Eurovision, which they saw as a way of presenting themselves positively and indeed they did win in 2011. Lots of rumours that the douze points was part of the deal! |
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Georg Ebner
Non-Aligned
Roman romantic reactionary Catholic
Posts: 9,813
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Post by Georg Ebner on Jun 6, 2017 0:45:31 GMT
Hence the 1981 result in which Labour won the election with a 3 seat majority despite the PN having a majority of votes; after much wrangling, this led to constitutional reform which guarantees proportionality in parliament. They agreed on a MajorityBonus of 4 seats, didn't they? Is this still in use? |
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Post by Devil Wincarnate on Jun 6, 2017 6:49:16 GMT
I'll try and dig it out, but there was an article about dubious goings in with offshore tax in Malta the other day.
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maxque
Non-Aligned
Posts: 9,306
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Post by maxque on Jun 6, 2017 10:35:56 GMT
What's making things so difficult for 3rd parties?
Also, what happened to that language? Seems it's a wierd mix of a Latin language and a non-European one.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2017 11:13:14 GMT
What's making things so difficult for 3rd parties? Also, what happened to that language? Seems it's a wierd mix of a Latin language and a non-European one. The core of the language is Arabic. Malta was Arabic between 870 and 1091. Since then, it has been occupied by European powers and has interacted mostly with Sicily and, latterly, with Britain. Around 30% of the language is now of Italian/Sicilian origin. It is difficult for third parties to be elected because only 5 candidates are elected from each district. This means that a party must get to circa 16% in a district in order to be elected. This isn't easily achieved, partly because proportionality is only guaranteed where two parties are elected. It's probably only the British occupation that enabled Malta eventually to become an independent state. In the Middle Ages and later it was feudally dependent on the Kingdom of Sicily, and the upper classes were essentially Italian. British rule had the effect of raising the status and influence of the Maltese-speaking majority, who were eventually to take power as the local government was democratised. Had the Knights of St John hung on, Malta would probably have been annexed by Italy during the Risorgimento. |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2017 11:47:40 GMT
It's probably only the British occupation that enabled Malta eventually to become an independent state. In the Middle Ages and later it was feudally dependent on the Kingdom of Sicily, and the upper classes were essentially Italian. British rule had the effect of raising the status and influence of the Maltese-speaking majority, who were eventually to take power as the local government was democratised. Had the Knights of St John hung on, Malta would probably have been annexed by Italy during the Risorgimento. British rule only happened because the Maltese nobility pleaded with Britain to act as protectors. They invoked an ancient right to self-determination to ensure that the Order of St john did not return (I can't recall the exact origins of this, but will look it up later if you're interested). The French occupation starting in 1798 proved very unpopular and ended because of a popular uprising with British support. Under the Treaty of Amiens in 1802 the British and French jointly agreed to restore the Order of St John, but Britain never had the slightest intention of doing so. This was one of the reasons that the peace broke down after only a year. My understanding was that the British occupation was fairly popular among all classes from the outset, though it was to be many years before their fond expectation of internal self-government was realised (the so-called Bathurst Constitution of 1813 vested all authority in the British governor, and he was not “to be shackled by any body of persons resident in Malta"). |
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