Election Desk: The no-show must go on

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.

A one-man debate

It was meant to be the debate of the campaign. Il-Każin and Times of Malta had two podiums set up, a live audience waiting, and thousands watching online. Everyone was ready, except for Robert Abela, who didn’t show up.

PN leader Alex Borg spent almost two hours alone on stage, fielding some of the toughest questions he has faced this campaign. Opposite him was the empty podium where Abela was meant to be. 

Thousands tuned in online and voted on who they thought should be Malta’s next prime minister. Naturally, Borg took 77% of that vote, but it goes without saying that an online audience self-selecting into a debate is not a representative sample. We leave that for the pre-election surveys. 

Abela said he didn’t show up because of scheduling conflicts, including a meeting with Special Olympics athletes that he said would not have been appropriate to cancel. He also said that he already faced Borg in four previous debates – although none of those four had quite the same audience.

Borg used the debate to make some of the biggest commitments of his campaign. He said he would resign if a PN government failed to complete a metro line in its first five years, bound himself to a party financing law, and committed to redrafting Freedom of Information laws. Abela later called the resignation pledge “populist”. 

An empty podium instead of Robert Abela. Photo: Jake Bellizzi

The numbers game

Both parties spent the first two weeks of the campaign promising heaven on earth. The last two have been spent arguing about who can afford it. And it looks like we now know, more or less, what each party’s promises will cost.

Labour’s electoral manifesto comes in at €6.3 billion over five years, according to Abela. Meanwhile, Borg said the PN’s manifesto will cost €6.7 billion. 

There are caveats, however. Labour’s manifesto assumes 4% annual GDP growth, while the European Commission projects 3.7% this year. It might not seem like a huge difference, but that gap actually adds up to roughly €80 million in missed revenue annually.

Meanwhile, the PN is planning to fund major infrastructure partly on income from projects that do not yet exist. As online editor Bertrand Borg put it in his analysis yesterday: Will we be buying all this infrastructure from IKEA?

Meanwhile, the small parties

It was a quieter news day for the third parties. Momentum put out a pledge to extend tax rebates and reform electricity rates for voluntary organisations, while ADPD called for measures to reduce noise pollution.

Carmel Cacopardo speaking on Tuesday, with ADPD candidate Melissa Bagley.

Before you head to the polls

A practical note for anyone who will be in hospital on Thursday: polling day for patients at Mater Dei, Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre, Mount Carmel and Gozo General Hospital takes place on Thursday, May 28. Visitors will not be allowed that day, so make sure your relatives have their voting documents.