A lifelong Labour supporter has announced his intention to vote for PN in next month’s European Parliament elections after being persuaded by a billboard.
Lawrence Cauchi, 54, from Qrendi has voted for Labour in every election since he became eligible to do so, and never misses a mass meeting or political gathering.
However, since driving past a PN billboard in Msida last night, he says he has had an epiphany.
“It was like a switch flicked in my head,” Mr Gauci said.
“I was driving along minding my own business, listening to One Radio and thinking about all the amazing things Joseph has done for the country. Then I stopped at the traffic lights and my gaze wandered to this billboard that said “Corruption is a tax of €725,000,000 per year. The Government doesn’t care.””
“I thought, ‘Wow, corruption is really bad! And it’s true that the Government doesn’t care’. Up until that moment, Konrad Mizzi had been my favourite minister and I believed the Panama Papers scandal was fake news. But once the lights turned green, I spent the rest of my journey just repeating the word ‘corruption’ over and over, and finally vowed never to vote for those corrupt, Malta-ruining sons of bitches ever again.”
Mr Gauci said he hadn’t yet decided who he was giving his ‘number 1’ to, but was strongly considering Michael Briguglio.
“He comes across as being really competent and charismatic, and I think he’s had a really strong online campaign #OhMyGod”
Political scientist Clive Portelli told Bis-Serjetà he was not surprised by Mr Gauci’s sudden conversion.
“For centuries, politicians believed the best way to persuade people to vote for them was by being a great orator, or failing that, having half-decent proposals,” he said.
“But based on years of research, it turns out the secret is to take a point you’ve been repeating ad nauseam for years without success, and slap it on a billboard right after you’ve promised to have a positive election campaign.
If that then triggers a juvenile, vinyl-based back-and-forth with your opponents, so much the better.”
Meanwhile, Adrian Delia has announced he will be voting for Labour after being persuaded by one of their billboards.
“It’s not like we have a hope in hell anyway,” the PN leader said. “What difference is one fewer vote going to make?
