Those who thought that the Prime Minister would have blown the whistle for the election countdown, announcing the date when the new government will be elected at the end of the parliamentary debate on the 2008 budget, were grossly mistaken.

In their eagerness for the ball to be set rolling, those who fomented the speculation that the election would have been held this year, in December, were causing great harm to the country. Perhaps it was their intention to do so. Now, they have been caught offside.

We all know how things stall in Malta each time an election is approaching. We all know that business is hit negatively when the country is close to the polls. And maybe the intention of those who threw fuel into the flames on the possibility of an election being held in December had this precisely in mind – to slow down the economy as it gears up for its busiest time.

People spend a lot of money in December. Business people look forward to this time of the year because they know it is the best time to make an extra lira. Families reunite for lunches and dinners. It is the time for entertainment and for joy.

This, on its own, was reason enough for an election not to be held in December, in the run-up for the Christmas season. But there were other reasons that people who continued to speculate on a December election should have seen as going against their idea – Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Malta later on this month, for example. Or the Prime Minister’s participation at the Commonwealth Summit in Uganda too. Or the fact that, on the eve of what remained as the only possible date for an election in December – the 15th, considering that the Prime Minister would never have spoiled the 8 December Immaculate Conception feast of “his” Cospicua – Dr Gonzi would be in Brussels for the EU end of year summit. Or that Mater Dei Hospital is still not fully-functional. Or that the first phase of the Manwel Dimech Bridge is still not completed.

Still, the speculation continued until the Prime Minister last Friday said those few words which, hopefully, will end the harmful rumours. In his closing arguments to the budget 2008 debate, Dr Gonzi said that the election is not close. Meaning that it will not be held in December. Meaning that those who have tried to hit the economy in a bid to put the government in bad light have to eat their words. Meaning that the election will be held next year.

Once the possibility of holding an election in November was ruled out, it was clear for this newspaper that the election would not have been held this year. Last Wednesday, The Malta Independent wrote that the election will be sometime in February or March, and this still seems to be the best period of time during which the election could be held.

For the government, which has the prerogative of choosing the date and will therefore choose the most advantageous one, it will be a time when the people will have started benefiting from the measures announced in the budget. The first pay-cheques, which will be fatter because of the wage increase and the revision of the tax bands, will have been received. And the effects of the changeover from the lira to the euro will still not have been gauged, also because the value of hundreds of items will not have changed – except in the currency they are paid for – because of an agreement that freezes the prices until the end of March.

Now that the Prime Minister has made it clear that the election will not be held this year, the speculation will – hopefully – stop. The Maltese people deserve to spend the Christmas season free of the highly-charged political scenario we live in day by day. They should be allowed to spend this festive time with their families in peace.

There will be time for an election.