Labour readies its election war room

Will the prime minister call a general election in the coming weeks? That is the question that many have been asking and while only one man can provide the answer, the Labour Party is not taking any chances. 

At Labour headquarters in Ħamrun, the party is preparing its election war room to give Robert Abela room to manoeuvre as he pleases, party sources told MaltaToday. 

The next general election has to be held at the latest possible in June next year. Earlier this year in an exchange with the MaltaToday newsroom, Abela said he wanted the government to present its last budget of this legislature in October, effectively ruling out an election this year. However, he did introduce a caveat, citing international instability as a possible reason to call the election this year “if it is in the national interest”. 

The latest controversy involving Judge Lawrence Mintoff also gave a glimpse of Abela’s possible timeline. In his explosive sworn declaration to ministers, Mintoff alleged that Abela had told him he wanted the new chief justice to be appointed after the next election, indicating March 2027 as a possibility. 

Nonetheless, Mintoff’s unprecedented letter, which includes serious accusations about the prime minister’s conduct as a lawyer, has opened Pandora’s Box. This, coupled with the political bickering over the appointment of a new chief justice, has raised the political temperature and fuelled speculation that an election announcement could be imminent. 

Strategy meetings have been taking place at Labour HQ. The sources said that individuals involved in past election campaigns from the Joseph Muscat era have been seen regularly at party HQ over the past few days. 

And in January, the PL announced that its candidates’ commission will start receiving applications from prospective candidates for the next general election. 

“Nobody really knows when the election will happen but the party wants to be prepared for any eventuality, giving the prime minister the widest possible options,” a source close to the party said. 

The shortest period between the dissolution of parliament and election day is 33 days. Given that Easter Sunday will fall on 5 April, it is very unlikely an election will be called now or in the coming weeks. Unless Abela wants to disrupt the Easter and Holy Week festivities, the most plausible course of action is to dissolve parliament just after Easter and hold the election on any Saturday in May or the beginning of June. 

But there is also the planning reform that Abela hinted last week, he wants to conclude before an election. When responding to criticism from an activist that the government had stalled the ongoing discussions not to irk voters before an election, Abela insisted he would “never do that”. “It would be the biggest disrespect to halt things now, and then, once the election is over, I pass legislation,” he said in comments to Time of Malta. 

The implication is that if Abela manages to broker some form of consensus over the controversial planning reform over the coming weeks, it would take the country one step closer to a general election this year. 

Whatever the prime minister decides, the PL is oiling its electoral machine to ensure it can set the wheels in motion once the whistle is blown. Whether that happens in a month’s time or 10 months from now, the battle lines have been drawn and the race has begun.