The opening shots of the next general election have been fired and the pungent smell of gunpowder is already unmistakeable in the trenches. The imminent local council elections will see the foot soldiers engaged in hand to hand fighting. There will be intense artillery barrages and bloody combat as the opposing sides slog it out to the bitter end.

The non-combatant, civilian population will endure the spectacle, at times with trepidation and, all the while, with interest in its eventual survival.

The outcome of the battle will depend on strategy, on morale, and on the conduct of the campaign. Even more important is the preparedness of the warring sides.

Handicaps

The Nationalist Party (PN) is handicapped by its past performance. It is held hostage by its inadequacies. Long years of profligacy, triggered by a “money no problem” philosophy, have yielded a structural deficit and unprecedented debts. In turn, this invited unpleasant pressure from an unexpected quarter – namely the European Union, which demanded a convergence programme.

This programme, which is intended to stabilise Malta’s public finances, calls for austerity measures.

Austerity during the run-in to a general election is a significant handicap.

The PN has no abundance of goodies to offer. It promises to lead the electorate to exciting, but far, horizons. And it hopes to distract the enemy by engaging in the guerrilla tactics of political polarisation.

The Malta Labour Party, now in opposition, is not only unencumbered. It is going into battle with a new and aggressive game plan. It had avoided the guerrilla engagements and concentrated on storing up ammunition behind the front line in anticipation of the decisive battle.

It has been assiduously consulting various civil society institutions in preparation for the assault, and it has proactively positioned its formations in order to be able to administer occupied territory without delay.

Game plan

This game plan is innovative, and may prove to be a winning card.

It avoids the infighting and the minefields, and looks at the target ahead. It is interested in the most accessible strategic positions, from where it will proceed by stages.

The MLP leader, Dr Alfred Sant, who has had to endure long and trying moments, putting his fighting forces together, can now give his undivided attention to the execution of the game plan – which is to reinvigorate the economy by stages.

The first stages involve short-term, quick decisions in areas where limited progress is feasible, principally in the tourist sector. Particular emphasis is made on possibilities relating to Grand Harbour and the Maghtab areas and Gozo. The objective is to increase foreign exchange earnings, which have a multiplying effect, and to create new employment openings.

Task forces will immediately be set to work on medium-term projects on the basis of such resources as are found to be available, and willing to promote and join in the grand design.

Overriding objective

The overriding objective is to concentrate on outward-looking initiatives, preferably in association with foreign investment, as an alternative to domestic schemes that seek to compete with existing enterprise. There is urgent need of a stimulus to innovative ventures based on education, modern technology and research, compatible with Malta’s vocation as a hub serving countries on the Mediterranean rim and beyond. Social creativity and the exploitation of opportunities arising from our geographic location, and our EU membership, are of the essence in this regard.

The Nationalist Party has been in office practically for the past 18 years or so, and could have harnessed the nation’s combined resources along these lines – but it chose to take a different course, relying on sustained debts and uninhibited expenditure in order to create a

feel-good atmosphere in pursuit of its EU objectives, no matter the cost. To the Maltese electorate, it promised the earth. It finished the course

by flogging the economy and

taxing one and all to the point of exhaustion.

The imminent local government elections may give an indication of the way the wind is blowing.

If the Gonzi administration means what it says and says what it means, and if it will be, moreover, under EU pressure to implement its Convergence Plan, and if it will implement, to boot, its declared objectives, by raising the surcharge on water and electricity bills to 84 per cent, gale force winds will be the main feature of the electoral storm.

Things are not likely to be cosy for the Gonzi government if that stage is reached.

Very largely, it will have to cope with problems of its own making.

Nevertheless, the general election is still far off and there will be any number of banana skins along the way, posing danger for unwary or intemperate politicians.

One thing is certain. The nearer the election, the faster the power of decision will shift from the hands of politicians to those of the electorate.

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