The die is cast

I am probably getting grumpier and more cynical. Or perhaps, I was used to election campaigns where the adrenaline could never match the anxiety and stress they generate.

But there are things that never change—the endless messages WhatsApp and Signal about unfair reporting and accusations of favouring one party over another. 

I look back and wonder what happened in the past. Indeed, in 2003, I endorsed the Nationalist Party and in 2013 I endorsed the Labour Party. But in 2026 I have made it a point to stay clear of that.

I really believe that MaltaToday and Illum have been the closest to fair reporting for all parties. We have endorsed the good ideas and lampooned the bad ideas. We have been critical and analytical, trying to give readers a better understanding of what is being said and more importantly, what is not.

But nothing is taken lightly by the party leaders or the parties themselves. I do not think that we are perfect in all our reporting, but we strive to give a fair deal.

This election has been one of the calmest and least toxic of campaigns. Less toxic is good but a dose of contentious and adversarial political wrangling is not a bad idea for some exciting campaigning.

The lack of toxicity is because both leaders, but especially Alex Borg, have decided to avoid adopting the campaign tools of the past. The murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia was barely mentioned; references to a corrupt regime were few and far between; there was no mention of Repubblika; and the complete absence in campaign material of Jason Azzopardi and personalities such as Manuel Delia, who served to keep many people away from the PN.

On the other hand, Robert Abela has been wise not to include Joseph Muscat or any of the faces from the Muscat administration in the party’s official campaign. Muscat still appears in individual endorsements of candidates and the occasional observation on social media but there were no campaign appearances. Abela has also done away with problematic politicians such as Roderick Galdes and has used a conciliatory tone when facing the media with one or two exceptions.

The consensus out there on the street is that Labour will win the election, but no one believes the victory will be close to what some of the surveys are suggesting. 

Although at Mile End, there is conviction that Labour will win by 30,000 votes, down the road at Stamperija there is a very different view.

They believe that Labour’s tally will drop from 163,000 voters they won over in 2022, and that the PN will gain and surpass the 2017 and 2022 election vote by winning back Nationalist voters. The story does not stop here. The people at Stamperija believe there is a small swing, and that most young voters will vote for Alex Borg.

But all these assumptions take place in an environment overshadowed by one of the best performing economies Malta has ever experienced and one of the fastest growing in Europe.

So, there you go. What is clear, and all the statisticians and pollsters know this, is that in surveys, the biggest problem is to read the Nationalist voter. In all the raw data, the Labour voter is more forthcoming and the PN voter is more secretive and unwilling to declare his or her intentions. To interpret the real number of PN voters, pollsters have to apply scientific assumption models to predict voting behaviour. While these models may be correct, they could misinterpret voting behaviour if there is a cataclysmic shift. So, hold your horses if most will get the interpretation wrong.

During this election, there have been genuine attempts to improve the quality of life of Maltese citizens. Unfortunately, the fact that they are promoted by one political party and not another makes it very difficult to have a sane discussion on the matter.

Both leading parties have had interesting proposals that could benefit communities, and I really think it is a pity that one way or another many will be discarded as a result of elections producing a victor and a loser.

With this mind, and beyond the controversies over the financial projections, I really think that the proposal made by the Nationalists on the metro should be taken up. This country needs to make a quantum leap. But if this proposal were in fact implemented it could not happen if the government of the day did not penalise the use of the private car.

Both parties went into overdrive when it came to benefits. Our children are a lucky bunch and the level of financial assistance they will receive in the health, educational, mortgage and transport sectors are so amazing that they could easily be tagged as the GENcushioned generation.

This election has also seen the active participation of smaller parties. I spent a good nine years working in a small party like a veritable Don Quixote. The very fact that Momentum and ADPD have not joined forces is telling. More worrying, is that nobody in these parties seems to realise that the probability of them acquiring enough votes to attain a district quota is practically impossible. And with that in mind I cannot see why they waste their time with a fully-fledged manifesto that gives one the impression they are going to run the country from 1 June.

But back to the real winners in the next election.

The winner in the next election will be known on Sunday at around noon or before and it will be either the PL or the PN. The tension in the counting hall will be indescribable.

More interesting will be the next day since whoever wins will have to implement all the policies outlined in the manifesto or electoral programme. 

Our job will be very simple; we will continue to oversee the execution of their proposals and keep them in check. It will not be an easy task. The media is the lifeline for politicians but not their bosom buddy. They love and hate us in equal measure. That is how it has been and will always be.

Next Saturday around 80%  of the population will vote. Many will abstain. Democracy does not always produce the best results but it is the best system around and while not to participate in the electoral process is a right, it is more important to fight one’s patch by casting a vote.