Although both leaders came out swinging on Wednesday, the tone for the debate was set before it even began.
Labour leader Robert Abela left his Nationalist opponent Bernard Grech nervously waiting at the podium for a good 15 minutes before waltzing in, cool as a cucumber.
If intentional, it could have been a juvenile political tactic known as ‘icing’, which is meant to unnerve political rivals ahead of a debate.
Abela’s predecessor Joseph Muscat had left Simon Busuttil waiting at a similar debate in 2017, only showing up just as the then PN leader, by then visibly unnerved, had threatened to walk out before the broadcast began. Muscat had adopted the same delaying tactics in 2015 during a recording of Times Talk.
When Abela eventually walked in for Wednesday’s debate, the two had some pointed words for each other.
And even as the two stood at their podiums for light and sound checks, murmured remarks could be heard by reporters.
Straight from the opening bell, Grech described Abela as a man of irregularly obtained wealth - a leader who was detached from the concerns of ordinary voters.
The PN leader said he, on the other hand, had lived a rather modest life and Abela had tried to use this to conceal his own questionable life choices.
Abela steamrolled past the allotted time for his first response.
In fact, he regularly talked for much longer than his allotted time.
This seemed to get under Grech’s skin, at a point even prompting him to comment on it on air.
Eventually, however, the PN leader adopted the same strategy himself, leaving the moderator to try to make up for lost time.
'Untrustworthy opponents'
Throughout the 60-minute Broadcasting Authority bout, both leaders described their opponents as “untrustworthy”.
The two political leaders are not seasoned debaters and at points, this showed.
Grech’s low point came in his closing statement when he seemed to lose his way and overshoot his time.
After meandering off-point, Grech tried to squeeze in messages about pensioners and excessive COVID restrictions in the same breath.
However, sensing he was out of time, Grech reached for his campaign slogan to the by-now all too familiar sound of a desperate moderator.
Abela avoided mishaps like this, however, he also avoided any deviations from his electoral script. His delivery and performance were predictable.
If you followed any of Abela’s Labour Party rallies in recent weeks you’d have been hard-pressed to find anything new in his remarks on Wednesday evening.
Perhaps most notable in Grech’s performance was his counter-argument to Abela’s vaunted claims of Labour success.
Wheeling out PN banners like EU accession, and his reference to Nationalist sweetheart Roberta Metsola were both shows of PN blue pride.
Abela, on the other hand, appeared concerned that voters are finding power may have gone to Labour’s head. He repeatedly “vowed” to be modest and humble, if elected to back office.
Voters will now make their selection in the 2022 election on Saturday.