Election Desk: My bonus is bigger than yours

Welcome to the Election Desk. This is where we round up the major headlines of the last 24 hours, together with some of the more light-hearted and funnier sides of the campaign trail. 

Malta gets a Polymarket  

Gambling addicts, rejoice! You can now bet your hard-earned cash online on who you think is going to be Malta’s next prime minister. 

The odds are exactly how you would imagine them. Robert Abela is the clear favourite to be prime minister, with a 95% chance of victory. The Labour Party enjoys the same odds of being the parliamentary winner, because obviously.

The betting odds are very much in Robert Abela's favour.

There is also a third market that is predicting ADPD has a 65% chance of coming in third in the election, ahead of Momentum at 27% and Imperium Europa at 10%.

However, a quick note: betting on election results is, in fact, illegal in Malta. Betting markets can influence public opinion, and people end up using the market odds as signals of who is “really” going to win. Look no further than the Eurovision to see how this plays out.

Sun’s out, bonuses out too

We finally have some clarity on the PN’s plan to reduce energy bills by 30%. The PN is basically planning to cover government buildings with solar panels and generate 175GWh of power to slash the average unit cost of electricity and lower bills for households, farmers and NGOs.

By placing solar panels on government property, schools and public parking, the PN is hoping to generate 5% of total energy consumption from solar energy alone.

Meanwhile, Labour continues to make financial pledges. This time, the party is promising to dish out annual €1,000 ‘hard work bonus’ payments to the bank accounts of every working person in Malta. A bit of a misnomer, in that it won’t matter how hard you work at your job. Whether you’re doing the bare minimum or employee-of-the-month, you will get that €1,000 payment.

A problematic homecoming

Some voters living abroad are having a hard time booking their flight home to vote. Yes, Malta still does not allow citizens to vote through embassies or consular offices or even by post, so everyone is trying to secure flights to come back home and fulfil their civic duty.

KM Malta Airlines is trying to make this process easier by offering special discounted flights for voters travelling to Malta during the election period.

But on Monday, many frustrated voters spoke to Times of Malta saying they were struggling to get through a special hotline to book flights to Malta. One voter made 26 calls and could not get through.

The airline said its call centre is fully operational but is handling a significant number of bookings. Customers who are unable to connect have been told to simply continue trying.

A newspaper for a new party

Momentum candidates have found a creative campaigning style. Together with the party’s volunteers, candidates have been roaming the streets of Malta handing out a Momentum newspaper, which outlines the party’s pillars and commitments. We hope the Momentum newspaper’s sales are better than the sector-wide average right now.

Momentum's newspaper, fresh off the press.

According to the party’s secretary general, the public mood has been rather positive. Momentum saw a “significant increase in small-scale donations” at the start of the campaign, especially after the cleansing department removed the party’s signage from the streets the night before the election was announced.