The election campaign started off rather quietly, with both major political parties and the two smaller ones concentrating on the proposals they were submitting for the Maltese people to consider.

But the more time passes, the more it has become evident that the advice that was given by the bishops before the campaign started – to discuss issues, and not people, and to keep the campaign at a political, and not a personal, level – have not been heeded.

We are once again experiencing a campaign that is not focusing on the real issues that we should be debating to make a distinction between the parties before the people make their decision. Instead, we are getting a campaign in which the political parties are more intent on denigrating the others.

The problem is that all political parties think that they are the victims of such campaigns, little realising that they are also adding fuel to the fire with the statements they are making. They are pointing fingers at each other, accusing each other of playing dirty, but they are not realising that they are playing dirty too.

We are used to this kind of politics but, unfortunately, there is a bigger dose of such behaviour during an election campaign, when the stakes are so high. And, no doubt, we will get more of it in the last two weeks before we go to vote on 8 March.

This is because it is much easier to find fault with someone else, rather than admit your own deficiencies. It is much easier to blame others for something that has gone wrong, rather than provide alternatives and offer solutions.

All political parties have presented their election manifesto to try to win votes. But the people seem to be listening more to criticism that is levelled by opposing parties to their adversaries’ proposals, rather than the parties speaking about their own suggestions for the future of Malta.

So you get the Nationalist Party that says that some of the proposals being made in the Malta Labour Party manifesto have already been implemented by the government; and the MLP saying that the PN are proposing matters that they should have already done while in government.

The media owned by the respective parties is playing a big role in this negative campaigning. They are picking on anything to put their political adversaries in bad light, and they are not always justified. While it is understandable that it is their role to promote the party that pays their salary, it is less understandable that they harass the other party, and in particular the leader of that party.

The smaller parties have also presented their programmes, but they are also more concerned to shoot down those of the PN and the MLP. They have fallen into the same trap they preach so much against, trying to earn votes by more by exposing the major parties’ deficiencies rather than through their own proposals.

In the light of this, the people are once again getting the negative side of things. We are not saying that politicians should not criticise the opposing parties; that is part of the game and it is accepted. But on the other hand politicians should be more positive in their approach.

What the bishops said in their pastoral letter for Lent ought to be repeated. In the hope that we see a difference in the last two weeks, although it is very doubtful this will happen:

“We all know that we are close to an election campaign. We would like to, for example, see some more respect and love towards one another in speeches and judgments. Diversity is an important element in a democracy. But political maturity demands that debate centres on the arguments and views, and not on people. In its smallness, our country can gain so much if we do not allow partisan politics to take over, and it can likewise lose so much if we politicise everything.”