Labour must now show it is deserving of the electorate’s renewed trust

The Labour Party won a clear mandate from the electorate to govern this country for the next five years. It was a history-making fourth consecutive victory achieved on the back of a narrative that championed continuity over change; a known pair of hands on the rudder than an untested captain.

The electorate bought into the narrative and it clearly showed it was not ready to change course at this juncture. The wealth redistribution adopted by the Labour government over the past years has left more money in people’s pockets. People were also shielded from the high energy and fuel prices caused by various international crises, a sign of a government that cared.

Free childcare, free Matsec exams, tax cuts, higher outlays on children’s allowance and other social benefits, pension increases that surpassed the cost-of-living increase, and many other benefits directed towards different categories made people feel richer than they were prior to 2013.

This does not mean that people were not bothered about the problems of Malta’s economic success, including the negative impact on public infrastructure of a rapidly expanding foreign workforce. It does not mean traffic congestion is no longer a subject of concern, or that overcrowding at hospitals and lengthy delays for surgical appointments are not things that worry and anger people. It does not mean that rising house prices are not a headache for young people. Neither does it mean that stories of corruption, nepotism and dubious multi-million-euro projects are acceptable.

What it means is that people were not confident enough that a change in government would have left them better off and that the problems that were bothering them would have been solved. In this sense they preferred the devil they know, with all its warts and defects rather than the new guy promising change but with a relatively unknown team around him.

The electorate decided to give the PL another chance but the significantly reduced vote gap should serve as a humbling message to Robert Abela. The gap between the two major parties more than halved, a signal that many voters felt the need to look elsewhere, even if for some this was a protest vote and not necessarily a vote of conviction in the Nationalist Party. A definite yellow card has been shown and it would be a mistake to brush aside the significance of this reduction in the euphoria of victory.

After a five-week campaign during which Abela’s government unashamedly used its power of incumbency to the full—patients waiting for surgery suddenly received hospital appointments; broken residential roads were miraculously fixed overnight; special COVID-19 pay outs to port workers suddenly became available—the time has come for the PL to start governing again.

We only hope the new Labour government is willing to curb the arrogance of those within it, who feel Malta owes them gratitude. We hope the new government will not run roughshod over independent public institutions. We hope it shows more respect towards journalists and critics. We hope it does not protect those in its fold who engage in wrongdoing. We hope it acts in the best public interest… all the time.

Winning for a fourth consecutive time is not something to be discounted. It is a success. But it also puts great responsibility on the winning team to show it is deserving of the trust the electorate has placed in it.