A general election is not just about the future. It is also about the past.
It is not only about judging which party can deliver the best economy, social policies or quality of life over the next five years. It is also about delivering a verdict on the government’s performance during its term. Elections are an exercise in political accountability.
One measure of whether the government deserves to be re-elected is its values. Not those which it only professes to uphold but those which are reflected in its decisions and policies, actions and omissions.
The Labour government’s most glaring actions and omissions of all led to the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The government created the atmosphere – as described by three judges in their inquiry report – that allowed the crime to be committed as she investigated corruption at the heart of the administration. The values the government practised here were not blind justice or rule of law but institutional paralysis and impunity for wrongdoers. These are also the fundamental causes of Malta’s damaged international reputation and they are far from having been eradicated.
Labour in government unleashed a building spree like no other, with scant regard for the preservation of natural green spaces, urban character, traditional townscapes or the well-being of residents who don’t have a finger in the construction pie. The value of care for the environment has been replaced by the value of wealth creation at any cost.
The government run by Labour has spent millions on public contracts awarded in a manner found to be grossly deficient by the auditor general. Rather than returning value for money to taxpayers, the value here appears to have been self-enrichment at their expense.
The Labour administration has turned back distressed African migrants to Libya, a place of ill-treatment. It was itself found by international bodies to be treating detained asylum seekers inhumanely. It has dithered in demonstrating concrete support for the Ukrainian people. This is not the value of solidarity that Malta prides itself in but attitudes born of narrow national self-interest.
The media’s attempts to extract information from the government, of vital interest to citizens, have all too often been unsuccessful.
The former energy minister turned questioning by a parliamentary committee into a charade, the tourism minister still refuses to divulge the cost of the Malta Film Awards and a serving prime minister has not sat down for an interview with Times of Malta for seven years. The values of transparency and openness have been replaced by secrecy and paranoia.
In other areas, the Labour government has demonstrated higher values. It has dedicated massive resources to protecting people from COVID, both in terms of health and finances, and its efforts have been relatively successful. It has championed new minority rights such as for the LGBT community and for couples needing IVF treatment. It has improved divorce laws and has done much to promote gender equality and participation of women in the workforce.
Labour’s social welfare measures do not seem to have made much of a dent in the at-risk-of-poverty rate, which has been stagnant since 2014. Still, there’s a faintly beating socialist heart within Labour. Pensioners are somewhat better off, as are parents who need financial help with raising their children.
And Robert Abela has gone some way to strengthening the rule of law with some legal amendments, albeit under huge international and local pressure.
These bright spots, though, do not make up for Labour having fallen so far below acceptable standards of governance and democratic values in all the other areas. This is a good indicator of its future behaviour.