The campaign has now come to an end, voting concluded yesterday and by the time you read this article, tension will be mounting as we await the outcome of a hard-fought, but ultimately politically correct election campaign.

Some reflections on the proceedings would be appropriate while we all await the first predictions by lunchtime today.

The campaign focused, as has been the practice of late not only in Malta but also in other countries, on the leaders of the political parties. This is not a novelty, because this was also the main theme in the previous election. The Nationalist Party, as opposed the Labour Party, centralised much of its campaign on Simon Busuttil, who was nudged into the role of deputy leader against all expectation following Tonio Borg's nomination to Commissioner of the European Union, providing proof to the maxim that a day in politics is a long time.

A number of observations were made regarding the length of the campaign. We have had an eight-week plus campaign and some have commented that it was far too long. That campaigns in recent elections were of shorter duration is a fact; however people seem to be short of memory as our country has had these campaigns time and time again and only the more recent ones were of shorter duration. I do not see anything wrong in long campaigns; democracy gives the possibility to those who have heard enough and already made up their minds to switch off from politics and concentrate on other things. To be frank, from the number of people participating in political events, many did not seem to subscribe to the point of view that the campaign was too long.

This campaign was fought on and regulated by social media. This is an important development that the incoming government, whoever it is, must focus on this development, as it shall be the key to future campaigns.

The number of endorsements by many foreign politicians in the course of the campaign is also worth commenting on. We witnessed members of the European Parliament, presidents of other countries and a number of other personalities endorsing the respective parties. This is the fruit of years of tranquil governance and maturity of our country, a welcome change from the infamous Foreign Interference Act introduced back in the eighties, which prohibited foreigners from participating in local politics and, worse still, rendered them subject to criminal prosecution – the name Massimo Gorla will ring a bell in this respect.

Another issue that came to the forefront is the question surrounding the day of reflection held on Friday. A number of exponents have criticised this day for a plethora of reasons, least among all the fact that silent campaigning still carries on, that social media proceeds with campaigning and it cannot be regulated, not even with the best of intentions, other that through autocratic decisions and manoeuvres. Personally, I do not see anything wrong with this day of reflection. It gives everybody a day of breathing space before we go to the polls. In practice, I would not describe it as a day of reflection, but as a day of calming down and taking a breather. Eliminating it would only serve the purpose of giving politicians another day to campaign in full gear. Is this what we really want? Is it not a contradiction to state that we want a shorter campaign, but then we want to campaign till the last second before going to the polls?

The results will be out in a few hours; the successful party will then await the election of its deputies to enable the formation of its government. After that there will be the swearing in procedures and thereafter, hopefully back to work.

The pressure on the government that will take office, as already highlighted in previous opinion polls, will be great. The winning party will be held answerable to the promises they have made; it will no longer be about image and sweet talk, but about the delivery of all that has been said and promised. It will be about the economy and jobs and no longer about billboards, adverts, slogans and colours.