Today will be the last day that political parties can make their final pitch to the electorate in a bid to secure last minute undecided votes.
After a very tame and lacklustre election campaign, Malta and Gozo will go into political shutdown tomorrow as we have our Day of Reflection. This means that as from today, newspapers in Malta will not be able to report any political messages until the winner is announced. The PN has said that its goal is to gain a historic third seat in the European Parliament, while the Labour Party has targeted a majority vote.
As we have already mentioned in yesterday’s leading article, voter turnout is expected to fall once more – bringing it down to about 75 % in comparison to our usual 95% + turnout in general elections.
One of the main issues, as we have already pointed out, is voter disenfranchisement and a very strong local opinion that the European Union has not respected Malta’s rights in terms of support in the migration crisis.
The PL has tried to push the election one as a Presidential style one, similarly to what Lawrence Gonzi had done in 2008. Dr Muscat is urging people to choose between him and Simon Busuttil. Dr Busuttil, meanwhile has taken the angle that this is a European election and that voters must go for who they believe will be able to deliver most for Malta within the EP, given the experience that its front running candidates have.
The final ‘debate’ televised on PBs was also a lacklustre affair, with both the PM and opposition leader Simon Busuttil just reading off their prepared notes and bashing each other’s track records.
The PM focused on the fact that the opposition has been negative and has no vision of where it would like to take the country. He also attacked the PN for having abstained on the Civil Union’s Bill and said the opposition is out of touch because it is shooting down initiatives which actually mean things to people.
Dr Busuttil, on the other hand, demanded that the government publishes the Henley and Partners contract and the Electrogas contract. He also attacked the Prime Minister for ignoring rising unemployment, which is a key concern to people.
Through all this, one has to wonder whether the competence of candidates will even enter people’s minds when they cast their vote on Saturday. There has been hardly any mention of who will do what and how they propose to seek to improve Malta’s stock within the European Parliament. Sunday, we will know.