«Midway through the journey of life, I awoke to find myself in a dark wood. For I had wandered off the straight path.» This phrase by epic Italian poet and author of the «Divine Comedy», Dante Alighieri, is widely considered as the first-ever account of a midlife crisis. Substitute «journey of life» with «general elections» and one is left with a rather accurate idea of how the average Mauritian voter must have felt amidst the electioneering frenzy of the last month: befuddled by an all too earthly comedy.

A few of the inconsistencies in the electoral process are much less obvious than the anachronistic Best Loser System. For weeks on end, the media and the electorate at large have supplicated parties to grace us with something of substance in which to sink our teeth. Instead, we have been intellectually starved with the most hollow of premises until the dying days of the campaign. Indeed, the two main alliances have hindered a vital decision-making process by not releasing their electoral manifestos until last Friday. The nation deserves better, much better.

Thus, the legal void allowing such dilly-dallying needs to be filled. A law should be passed to ensure that, by 2010, all political programmes have to be out at least one month before polling day. Many of the smaller parties are already doing this. It?s about time for the political oligarchy?s over-indulgent poppycock to give way to realistic commitments. It?ll take a lot of work and discipline, but I?m sure that the scores of lawyers, businessmen and doctors that swell the ranks of the two main blocks can come up with «something» that looks like a real plan.

In this way, all those who wish to represent us will present a realistic plan covering the next five years. Not 100 days or that sort of jazz. In turn, voters will have ample time to make an informed decision on which candidates to support. The Enlightenment is already a few hundred years old, so politicians will have to stop insulting our collective intelligence with mind-numbing slogans. They will not be able to brandish the excuse that they are worried of being plagiarized by their adversaries either. Ah, the wonders of the level-playing field.

Last Thursday night, I was in Rivière-du-Rempart reporting on the frenetic last nights before E-Day. After stopping at an Alliance sociale «baz» and an MSM-MMM «baz», I stepped into a tabagie for a drink. I engaged the clientele with the usual electoral chitchat and they soon revealed to me that they had been part of the «undecided». Until, that is, they read one of the party?s manifestos and liked what they saw on education. What a refreshing moment! Here were people who were not voting for a symbol or a cult of personality, but for a program.

Mauritius is streets ahead of most African countries when it comes to free and fair elections. However, this good start should not be a reason for us to stagnate or be self-satisfied. A country that labels itself «key, star, tiger and cyberisland» needs to innovate, continuously and relentlessly. So do our politicians. Saddling new technologies, such as text messaging and the Internet, to reach more people is all well and good. Yet, if the quality of the debate doesn?t improve, these will be reduced to the status of mere props in an all too earthly comedy.