People who watched last Monday’s edition of BondiPlus got a taste of what the election campaign is going to be like. And the taste was rather bitter, considering that rather than debate what both major political parties intend to do for a better Malta, the two leaders ended up attacking each other.

And the viewers were none the wiser after what is being considered as the first of a series of head-to-head clashes between the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader, except that Dr Lawrence Gonzi is still toying with the election date and did not exclude the possibility of holding it this year. But then, who did not know that?

Otherwise, it was more of a battlefield that even experienced journalist Lou Bondi at times found hard to control. Mr Bondi must have prepared a long list of questions he wanted to ask but the way the debate developed left him no time other than to try to make the speakers understand that by talking at the same time their message was not getting across.

The one-hour debate started mildly, with both Dr Gonzi and Dr Alfred Sant avoiding to look each other in the eye as they answered the first question on whether a Cabinet reshuffle would have been beneficial or not.

Soon, however, the divergence of opinion began as the two took a completely different approach, with Dr Gonzi referring to the praise that was showered on the government earlier in the day during a conference on the euro changeover, with Dr Sant accusing Dr Gonzi of not being in touch with the people as these were giving a different picture than what the Prime Minister was depicting.

From then onwards, it was a question of who was going to interrupt the other the most. The two remembered to smile as the accusations flew, and the eye-contact began too. It was somewhat entertaining, but at the same time left viewers thinking that, if this was the scenario when the election date is still to be announced, what is going to happen when polling day gets closer?

Dr Sant took the initiative several times, bringing up subjects that have been high on his political agenda for the past months, such as corruption, education, the cost of living and the administration’s cost overruns on capital projects, often forcing Dr Gonzi to respond to claims by hitting back at what Labour did rather than explain the PN’s vision for the future.

The arguments brought up were therefore too linked to the past, rather than with a view to the road ahead. And this is perhaps the line Dr Sant wanted to take, considering that the MLP’s main weapons in the run-up for the election are not what it is proposing for the future, but that this government has been hit by a number of scandals and is “old and tired”.

Dr Sant never gave Dr Gonzi the chance to explain the Vision 2015 targets the Nationalist Party is proposing for Malta, as he kept coming up with comments – which Dr Gonzi described as a mudslinging exercise – to derail the Prime Minister from his intentions. As such, Dr Sant seemed very much in control of the debate as often the subjects tackled were those that Dr Sant wanted.

Two other points worth mentioning are Dr Sant’s escape from a question regarding the fact that he will be contesting his fourth election as party leader against a prime minister who will be contesting his first, and Dr Gonzi’s public reprimand of parliamentary secretary Tony Abela for comments made to a One News journalist who was interviewing Dr Gonzi on the Granaries during the PN’s Independence Day celebrations.

On the whole, this first debate between the leaders was more of an exercise about the past than one about the future. Both Dr Gonzi and Dr Sant should be more forthcoming about their party’s plans for a better Malta when they clash again.