6 June seems far away but soon we’ll start listening about this date mentioned as much as we all watch Xarabank. All political parties kicked off with their campaign, claiming that they have the best team. Both parties boast of some popular faces and others who are relatively new. What’s new in this political climax?

There will not be Joseph Muscat on the ballot sheet, now being Opposition Leader. There will be Arnold Cassola as head of the AD contesting and Paul Borg Olivier will be facing his first electoral campaign as PN secretary general. What’s more than new is that both parties are promoting candidates who tend to be more moderate and to an extent, are also associated with the rival party.

Perspectives play a major role in this kind of election. Having to attract all voters, the political parties can’t rely on candidates aiming to attract their district voters, but a few-for-many policy. Ideally every candidate is an all-rounder.

The big parties are emphasising a moderate approach, being an election which sees cross party voting. The PN will keep on saying that such elections are possible only due to the party’s vision, aim and achievement. The PL will rely on the track record of their MEPs, being the party that won last EP election. The difference now is that the red side has its ex-heavy weight missing when it comes for direct votes, but being the party leader will surely play a major role to convince the floaters and regain some credibility – ironically, on an issue (the EU) which has damaged Labour’s credibility throughout this decade.

As we continue to assist to the Joseph Muscat drama, messages of love and internal turbulences, many outlined that the PL leader is trying to present his party equivalent to the PN – based on style, image and although still far away, in the political approach. As it has been highlighted, Joseph Muscat is trying hard to eliminate the die-hard and militant approach; replacing them with names that never associated themselves with Labour. I question if names like Prof. Scicluna and Marlene Mizzi are added on the list to compensate for Bedingfield’s replacing of Joseph Muscat in the European Parliament. On the other hand Kirill Micallef Stafrace is a new name in the political spectrum.

It is evident that Joseph Muscat tries to stick to his slogans. Young and progressive were two important factors which won the PN last year’s general election. He adopted these two adjectives as his slogan. Now the Opposition Leader is trying hard and from a cosmetic point of view, he does his best. The young faces and new names are there! Funnily enough the most moderate candidates are the oldest on the PL side. All this, continues the contradictions within this party who changes aesthetically but never its policies and political attitude.

The worst case scenario for the PN is that Arnold Cassola will have the same effect he had in 2004, when people voted for him and instead got a third Labour MEP. The 2009 twist seems to be that the PL is trying to project itself as another PN. For this time only, we appreciate that there are Jason Micallef, Anglu Farrugia and Toni Abela who distinguish themselves, reminding us that Labour remains Labour.

Randolph Spiteri is a PN candidate for the San Gwann local council