Labour is eradicating meritocracy, Bernard Grech said in one of his final appeals to voters before they head to the polls this weekend.
The PN leader was speaking on Thursday - the last day of campaigning before Malta goes out to vote on Saturday to choose its European Parliament and local council representatives.
"We regressed to a reality in this country where who you know is more important than what you know," Grech said.
He said that the economy is only working for the rich.
As a result, hard-working young people cannot afford their own property and so have to remain living with their parents.
"The country is broken and dirty, not only in the physical sense but also because of corruption and bribery," Grech said.
"No wonder seven out of 10 young people want to leave the country," he said.
Speaking on Net FM, Grech said the government will be looking at the vote gap between the PL and PN to gauge its public approval come Sunday.
Voting for independent candidates will not send a message to the government, he warned.
In his appeal to voters, Grech said that PN MEPs made Malta proud, citing Roberta Metsola being entrusted to occupy the top post in the European Parliament.
Grech also called on voters to choose PN candidates for local councils
Labour councillors will remain silent towards the government's actions while PN representatives will act in the interest of residents, he said.
Grech said the government brought back a culture of "omerta", which was synonymous with the 1980s.
"If you write something on Facebook, you will get a call telling you to keep your mouth shut," he said.
The 1980s are regarded as one of the darkest periods of Maltese political history, with multiple violent clashes between Labour and Nationalist party supporters before the PN's victory in the 1987 election.
On Thursday, Grech brought up two of the worst moments of the era - the letter bomb that killed Karin Grech and the murder of Raymond Caruana.
Both episodes happened under a Labour Government, he said