All eyes will be on Prime Minister Robert Abela on Sunday as he is widely expected to call a general election.
Government and Labour Party sources on Saturday said that everything pointed to Abela announcing a March 26 election when he addresses the party faithful at a gathering planned for the Floriana granaries.
“All the indications are that he will announce it Sunday and dissolve parliament on Monday,” a senior party source said.
The prime minister will make his address at around 11am.
This weekend is Abela’s last chance to announce an election if he wants it to be held by next month.
This would fall within the obligatory 33-day window between the dissolution of the house and polling day, as laid out in the country’s election laws.
Party sources said Abela is expected be whisked to Labour’s ONE studios shortly after the political meeting for a television interview.
The PN will be holding a gathering of its own in Mosta.
Both the Labour and Nationalist parties have been urging their heavyweights to help draw in supporters for their weekly political events as election fever sets in.
The PN will be holding a gathering of its own in Mosta.
Meanwhile, Times of Malta on Saturday reported how government ministers were all sent out a message this week, urging them to attend Sunday events in support of the prime minister.
It is unacceptable, the message reads, that some ministers were planning on canvassing their constituency at the same time as Abela was set to address the party faithful.
Sources within the PN said that they too had been issued with instructions not to miss out on the Sunday gatherings.
An election in April is far less likely as a planned visit by Pope Francis and the Easter holidays clash with political campaigning.
The Vatican is understood to have made it clear to the government that the pope’s visit should not coincide with an electoral campaign.
The PM has other options before him, including a possible election in late May, or going the distance and having a vote in June. He has remained coy when asked by journalists about the matter, saying only that the election will be held by the time the legislature draws to a close.