This European parliamentary election campaign will certainly not go down in the annals of history as one of the most important or exciting of elections the country has witnessed.

Despite the fact that both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition are both former MEPs themselves, this campaign has not, in reality, had much to do with Europe or the European Parliament.

One could be forgiven for having expected Europe and European issues to have factored a whole lot more into the campaign equation. That, clearly, did not happen and although we did have fleeting, side references to the grand European project and Malta’s role within it, the campaign was overtly dominated by petty partisan squabbles. Yes, this tends to happen in MEP elections across the entire European Union, but just because matters degenerate like that in other countries does not mean that we necessarily have to follow suit.

How much did we hear about Europe and the parties’ visions for Europe? Not an awful lot, one must observe, despite the fact that this is, in essence, what the whole election was about.

And what the Prime Minister did last Sunday when he put the whole election down to pitting himself against the Opposition leader runs in stark contrast to what this election was all about. The trend to turn Maltese political races into an American presidential style campaign had started back in the 2008 general election. This approach, despite the hugely varying political formats, might work in a general election that results in one prime minister for the country as the US election results in one president, but it really does not make a lot of sense when it comes to an election for the six individual Maltese Members of European Parliament.

The main issue is not which of the country’s two main political parties acquire the most seats at the European Parliament, or the extent to which the gaping divide between those two parties that evidenced itself in last year’s general election has been narrowed or widened.

The electorate should have been called to rise above partisan politics and choose the candidates who they believe would best represent Malta in the EU, and not simply vote along traditional party lines. This was, after all, not a national election, and it presented yet another ideal opportunity to rise above those party lines and make an educated, objective decision. 

But the problem is that the Prime Minister preferred to make this a question of him against the Opposition leader, instead of at least a choice between which party had fielded the best and most promising candidates.

By pitting himself against the Opposition leader in such a direct fashion, the Prime Minister took Europe out of the equation. He must have either been driven to do so while riding high on his positive personal approval ratings, because he does not have confidence in his own candidates, or a combination of both.

But this is not to say that the Opposition has not similarly lowered the discourse to partisan bickering. The Opposition has repeatedly called on the government to publish its contract it signed for the new power station and the contract it signed for the administration of its Individual Investor Programme – both of which have been highly controversial – ahead of yesterday’s election. Needless to say, neither contract has been published and it is dubious whether either contract will even be released in their entirety.

The government of course has the power of incumbency here and as such it has been able to postpone publishing these two documents. That same power of incumbency has also allowed it to time the announcement and mail shots of the 25 per cent electricity savings to households, to issue cheques for tax refunds on VAT paid on car registration taxes, to announce the ‘big news’ of the albeit minor reduction in fuel and gas prices, to take a different tack on the issue of irregular migration, and to downplay that contentious matter of berthing a liquefied natural gas-filled tanker in Marsaxlokk Bay as a mere temporary measure. There have also been accusations that the government had instructed that water and electricity bills not be sent out until after the MEP election day.

But despite the rather low key campaign, there is a lot at stake for both the main parties. The government will try to hammer home its electoral superiority after its considerable victory in the 2013 general election – its first litmus test since then. And the government has said its aim is to be the first party in government to attain the highest number of votes. 

The Opposition leader himself also faces his first electoral litmus test since taking the helm of the Nationalist Party in the wake of his predecessor’s departure following the last general election’s near-humiliating defeat. The Opposition’s goal is to even out the MEP balance by taking a third MEP seat out of Malta’s six.

At the end of vote counting, they could very likely both end up ‘winning’ the contest, and if they both reach their electoral goals they will no doubt both claim a victory of sorts. In the wake of yesterday’s polling, the electorate would do well to take a step back from the lines the party leaders feed them and to consider whether, at the end of the day, Malta has won or not by having the best people possible representing them in Europe – no more and no less.