The election campaign comes to a close today and, frankly, many will be relieved to see the back of one of the most apathetic campaigns in recent history.
There are three reasons for this disengagement: the surveys consistently showed it is a foregone conclusion that Labour will win by a huge majority.
Secondly, the war in Ukraine has jolted many of us into thinking about the stark reality around us. Thirdly, people just want to get on with their lives.
The past three weeks were ‘bonanza time’ framed within an onslaught of social media adverts, with parties going to great lengths to promise anything, from a €700 million investment in ‘green’ projects to a €2.8 billion trackless tram.
It is surreal to come to the tail end of an election campaign with rarely any references to the elephants in the room: the war in Ukraine, the spiralling cost of living or Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder.
The Labour Party began the campaign emphasising its track record, pitching Robert Abela as a capable leader for his handling of the pandemic and record low unemployment versus the Nationalist Party as a divided and amateur party.
Abela rehashed his pitch from his Labour leadership campaign, presenting himself as a ‘new’ leader, telling voters he needs their trust ‘for the first time’.
He did this through a careful narrative, often playing at home, and refusing to sit for a single interview with the critical media, despite having a duty to answer for scandals and claims concerning his past business ventures.
This disgraceful attitude doesn’t tally with his claims that he supports the so-called fourth pillar of democracy.
Over the past decade, the Labour Party has become a political juggernaut by promising to be all things to all people. While it has very clearly failed multiple integrity tests, turned Malta’s environment into a cash cow, prostituted planning laws, and proven it does not have the stomach or vision to pass tough but necessary reforms, it has elevated its political messaging to unprecedented levels.
It is surreal to come to the tail end of an election campaign with rarely any references to the elephants in the room: the war in Ukraine, the spiralling cost of living or Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder
Its candidates are well-drilled and the party presents its message clearly thanks to a well-organised campaign.
The PN seems to have been overly eager for this election. It unveiled a series of proposals back in November, when rumours of an early election were swirling, and, in so doing, managed to give its opponents several months to study them. They then released their manifesto within days of the election being announced, only for it to be missing some proposals while duplicating others.
Oddly, they pushed the narrative that Labour was ‘unprepared’ because it had not released its manifesto but that will not wash with an electorate that has experienced nine years of fundamentally organised, albeit corrupt, government.
The PN learned its 2017 lesson and did not focus its campaign purely on governance issues but it clearly failed to inspire many of the floating voters.
Where brave decisions were needed – on issues like planning, hunting and the need to tackle lawbreakers – it sat on the fence. Its obsession to regenerate the party ended up backfiring with too many new, inexperienced candidates appearing on the ballot sheet.
Labour and the PN need to do something if they are to regain credibility among their sceptics. Many would like to see them clean out the stables and put the common good above materialism and selfish sectoral interests.
The campaign appears to have swayed few. Many (too many) will simply opt for the party they always voted for. Others will vote for the party which has rewarded their loyalty with a job or a favour; many will stick with the devil they know.
There is no eleventh hour strategy which can change the election result, especially with a war that is bound to favour the incumbent.
While Labour will deliver continuity, its third term will be conditioned by events away from our shores. The fallout from the pandemic, the impact of the Ukraine war and rising inflation could all force it to rethink or revise some of its electoral pledges.
Another landslide victory should give Labour the opportunity to carry out the changes needed to instil long overdue social and economic reforms, which would possibly help change the cobwebbed mentality that has weighed this country down for way too long.
But don’t bank on it. Labour’s two past landslides presented them with two golden opportunities to do that but it did not do so. Instead, it continued bending over backwards to placate the lowest common denominator, turned nepotism into an art form and rewarded mediocrity.
And this is why many fear that another huge majority will simply spawn a more arrogant Labour government reluctant to avoid a repeat of the despicable wrongs that happened on its watch. Such a majority will be safe for Labour but likely terrible for Malta in the medium to long term.