In a situation where a week is a long time in politics, it would be foolhardy to make any predictions of what lies ahead politically in Malta.
The only certainty is that there will be a break from elections – we had the general election in 2022 and the European Parliament and local elections are not due before 2024.
It is perhaps a good time to use this period of relative calm to reflect on the rules governing the political game. President George Vella admitted in April that it pained him that progress had not been made on convening the long-heralded Constitutional Convention.
He launched a public consultation on constitutional reform in 2019, just months after his appointment.
Not much has happened since, other than amendments suggested by the Venice Commission on the appointment of the president himself, as well as the chief justice.
Malta could end up with a constitutional crisis early in the new year if the president pulls the trigger and resigns in protest over the abortion bill, the first time any president would have ever done so.
It is not just the constitution which needs updating. The electoral laws are ripe for change, too.
Does Malta still need 13 districts? Would a single constituency help to cut down on nepotism, such as the kind where ministers dish out jobs to supporters from their district? And could that help elect a third ‘voice’ in parliament?
It would certainly give greater choice to the electorate but a mechanism would be needed to ensure there is government stability and no puny ‘kingmakers’.
It is not just the constitution which needs updating. The electoral laws are ripe for change, too
The year 2023 will be a trying one for both major political parties.
Labour still needs to do a lot of work to shed the image of corruption and nepotism, for which it has become notoriously known.
More recently, while undoubtedly winning the support of pro-choice voters, especially young people, Labour also needs to work to win back supporters who believe their party is pushing through the so-called ‘abortion bill’ without having an electoral mandate.
Meanwhile, the government will likely have to take even tougher decisions on Air Malta while hoping the economy would continue to do sufficiently well to enable it to sustain the costs of the cap on energy prices, the subsidy on cereals and the extra outlay on allowances for needy people unable to keep up with inflation.
For the Nationalist Party, the challenge will be to rebuild itself to provide at least a viable challenge at the 2024 elections.
The party seems to have become even more entrenched in conservative values since the election, alienating liberals who believe the PN simply lacks punch.
The party knows that failing to achieve a credible result in those elections would put its very future in doubt and probably spark off another leadership election, which is the last thing it needs.
Beyond local politics, 2023 will be important for diplomacy as the country takes its seat as one of the members of the UN Security Council. It is a prestigious two-year position, enabling Malta to punch above its weight.
But however high the tree climbs, the strength always lies in the roots, in this case the ordinary people of Malta.
The faces of society and the country have changed. It is now becoming difficult to even know what the defining values of this population are. Will this be a country that tolerates everything in the name of so-called progress?
The other institutions also have a duty to ensure they will not be swept by a current of subservience to political pressure which, ultimately, will rob them of their independence, to the detriment of the ordinary people they are meant to protect.