Round 2

Joseph Muscat has been dealt a better hand of cards than Alfred Sant. In both cases, they benefitted from the fact that sitting on the opposition benches makes it easy to lend a sympathetic ear to anybody disgruntled with the current state of affairs. Unlike his predecessor, however, Muscat is not campaigning for a radical change in government policies. There is no VAT to get rid of and no European Union to run away from. He also fares better in the PR stakes - in fact, one could say that he is the first leader of the Labour Party in decades who could be considered to be an affable family man. Mintoff was grandiose, bombastic, and rough, while Mifsud Bonnici and Sant were anything but charismatic. In comparison to these three men, Muscat, with his wife and two daughters, is a breath of fresh air.

The values of young Maltese voters have changed dramatically over the past decades. Muscat has so far used his relative youth to his advantage, working hard to tap into the general unhappiness engendered in this class of voter by the current conservative government. It was Pullicino Orlando who dealt the Labour leader a terrible blow, pulling the rug from under his feet. Contrary to general belief at the time, Pullicino Orlando has in fact done PN a huge favour, putting on the gloves for round 1 of the election battle. Now that the divorce referendum is done and dusted, Muscat can no longer use the promise of divorce legislation to woo liberal nationalists. In fact, the PN has clearly learned its lesson - the party is now defending itself from a strong left hook which would lose it gay votes; PN stalwarts are reluctantly but purposefully suggesting that the recognition of homosexual relationships is not off the books. This move could give the PN the first mover advantage since unfortunately, the leader of the opposition has not come out very strongly in favour of civil recognition of gay couples.

Besides trying to entice young liberal voters, the Labour Party is also setting its eyes on the economic concerns of the general population. Misguided, myopic knock-out punches similar to Alfred Sant's removal of VAT saga are thankfully a thing of the past. Better primary and secondary education with more students going into tertiary education, a better funded and industry-oriented tertiary education, more business-friendly legislation, more family-friendly measures to increase work force participation, better communication and energy infrastructure are all included in the litany regurgitated by politician after politician. Such changes usually have a positive effect in the upper- and middle-classes of society, but only trickle down to manual labourers and the vulnerable in society (such as pensioners and the chronically unemployed) very slowly, usually skipping a generation. The bottom-line for most of the electorate is: will the next government make me richer or poorer? Muscat's pledge is simple: jitnaqqsu il-pizijiet tal-hajja min fuq il-haddiem u l-pensjonant.

Gonzi and PN have lodged a right uppercut for 'Round 2' of the election fight, and will probably keep at it till the end. They sense the inherent weakness in the pledge made by Muscat. Most of problems we encounter today are not based on lack of foresight, but problems, or sluggishness in implementing government strategies. Wasn't a revamp of our public transport system a good idea? Of course it was. Shouldn't the Marsa power station be closed? About time! MEPA reformed? Yeah! Primary health care given adequate importance? Yes please!

Promise after promise, pledge after pledge have left many people sorely disappointed. Whether through lack of adequate funding or sheer incompetence by whoever is responsible, people are getting impatient. Joseph Muscat is promising that with him in government things that need to get done will get done properly.

For government projects to be a success there are three requirements: funds, effective ministers and efficient implementers (civil servants, CEOs, chairpersons etc). Lawrence Gonzi is trying to show up Muscat by attacking his fund raising plans. Economic turnarounds take a long time, and people would want to see results by the end of Muscat's term in office. Many sceptics would argue that whatever Gonzi and his limited choice of ministers couldn't do well, Muscat and crew would probably do worse.

Guessing how virgin ministers will perform is in the end just a wild guess. Malta's managerial talent pool limited by our size; moreover if not tainted with red or blue, only one or two degrees of separation would make them minn taghna or kontra taghna. Whether Muscat admits it or not, hand-picking talented people based on merit and not on party allegiance will surely result in many disappointed Labourites eagerly awaiting a share of the pie.

As the weeks and months pass in 2012 the fight will get more and more intense. Punches will be thrown left and right. The rest of us are bound to watch the match progress in a bemused fashion. No wonder some of us simply tune the whole sorry spectacle out.