Election Desk: Highlights of the first week of the campaign

The Galdes saga

If there was one person who had a rocky start to the election, it was Roderick Galdes. The start was pretty much the end, as the night the election was announced, the Labour Party executive voted against the former housing minister contesting on the party’s behalf.

Roderick Galdes

The next day, he went on Facebook saying he was the “victim of a coordinated attack by a political group” and later filed a complaint with party bosses.

Yesterday, he put an end to speculation when he said he will no longer seek an electoral run. That announcement came two days after he met with Robert Abela. We still do not know what was discussed.

A number of incumbents will not be recontesting.

MPs sitting out of the election

There are at least 11 serving MPs elected in 2022 that will not re-contest their parliamentary seat this time round. On the PN side, this includes Ivan J. Bartolo, Claudette Buttigieg, Ryan Callus, Robert Cutajar, Chris Said, Karol Aquilina and Carm Mifsud Bonnici. Meanwhile, Labour is losing Clayton Bartolo (who was hoping to make a return after the 2024 controversy), Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, Edward Zammit Lewis and Chris Agius.

One candidate who is once again contesting is Nazzareno Bonnici, better known as Żaren tal-Ajkla. He will be contesting the third and sixth districts.

Adrian Delia addressing the second PN press conference. Photo: PN

Jobs for votes?

On Thursday, Nationalist MP Adrian Delia denounced a troubling political practice that, while widely suspected, is seldom openly addressed. He alleged that ministers have been contacting individuals directly, offering them jobs in an apparent effort to secure their votes. In one instance, he recounted, a person received such a call and was told they could begin work as early as the following Monday.

Times of Malta reported extensively on two major scandals of clientelism in recent years: a disability benefits scam and a driving tests racket. They were both intended to help voters get access to funds they were not entitled to, or to get fast-tracked through the system.

At the time, Abela defended ministers and public officials who helped people get fast-tracked for their driving tests through the backdoor, insisting “that is the way the political system works”. It seems that same political system is in motion right now.

Proposals, drip-fed

Political parties have been drip-feeding proposals from their electoral manifestos this week. Labour’s proposals are spread across family, youth, first-time buyers, pensions and Gozo. The Nationalist Party has been leaning more into healthcare, with infrastructural investment promises and digitisation in hospitals. Momentum has focused on good governance, workers’ conditions. You can read up on all the proposals, and more, online on Times of Malta’s Election 2026 tag.

The momentum team

Momentum’s all-male candidate list

Momentum had to face some criticism after its candidate list for the election featured no women at all. Some liberal factions were already scrutinising Momentum for failing to attract progressive voices, or, rather, only attracting tertiary-educated conservative voices.

The party said it would love to have candidates of all genders on its list in the future but they put the blame on other factors. They said there are bigger barriers in life that make it more difficult for women to enter politics and, most structurally, the gender mechanism is also discouraging because it excludes women contesting the election under third parties.

Two mass events

Labour supporters in Valletta.

Labour Party marked May Day with a mass rally in Castille Square while the Nationalist Party held its event in Lija. By most accounts, Labour attracted the larger crowd.

Youths gathered in Lija for the PN rally.

However, political observers pointed to a notable detail at the PN gathering: a strong presence of young people, particularly concentrated at the forefront of Alex Borg’s meeting.