These were the main points of Day 1 of the 2017 election campaign:

The tone has probably been set, already on the first day of the campaign, with the Labour Party trying to win the people’s trust by promising to dish out goodies should it win the election, while the Nationalist Party is so far focusing on Labour’s mishaps which have led to a snap election, unthinkable at the start of the legislature with Labour having a nine-seat majority which, little by little, was whittled down to five.

Labour Party

In first press conference of the campaign, Joseph Muscat announced tax cuts, an increase in pensions, resurfacing of all roads. He said public holidays falling on weekends will be added to vacation leave. It is a way to drum up support through populist measures which have not been received well by the business community. Whether calculations have been properly made to see if these measures are sustainable remains to be seen.

Muscat later visited the Vittoriosa open market, but no media were invited for the event.

In the first mass rally held in Zurrieq, Muscat says he will fill in the gap left by Marlene Farrugia on the fifth district. Farrugia resigned from the PL midway through the legislature to form her own party which is now part of a coalition with the Nationalist Party. It was an ego-boost to Farrugia, who immediately challenged the PM for a debate in Zurrieq. Will Muscate take it?

Nationalist Party

PN took longer to gear up – calling the first press conference for 12.30pm while Labour’s had been held at 8.30am. Simon Busuttil concentrated on the resignation letter presented by Labour whip Godfrey Farrugia last Saturday, which turned out to be the eve of the election date announcement. Farrugia resigned and accused the PM of leading a government which lost its moral fibre. No doubt it will not be the last time Busuttil refers to this letter.

Busuttil later addressed the first PN mass rally at Dar Centrali, saying Muscat chose an early election because it was the only way he could try to save his skin in the wake of corruption accusations.

PN says it will present three electoral programmes, one general, one for Gozo and one for young people. But so far PN has chosen not to make any promises, preferring to highlight Labour’s deficiencies. Maybe the proposals have not been finalised yet, as the PN may have been caught on the wrong foot with the early election call. It must quickly make up for this as otherwise it would seem that it wants to win by default.