Unlike other newspapers, The Malta Independent will not favour any candidate for the post of Deputy Prime Minister/Deputy Leader of the Labour Party or anyone of those contesting the leadership of the Nationalist Party.

This newspaper took a clear stand on important issues that occurred in the past 25 years but it has never dared interfere in the electoral choice of individual candidates who contested the general election, the European Parliament elections, the Local Council elections or internal party elections such as those coming up in the next few weeks.

We stood by both political parties on different issues such as EU membership, the introduction of the euro as our currency, the introduction of divorce, in favour of civil unions and gay marriage and against corruption. We also took a common stand with other media houses against hunting and on migration, but we do not think that we should try to influence who should be the next Deputy Prime Minister or the next Leader of the Opposition.

Columnists writing on our platforms have the liberty to cast their preference but nothing of what they write can be taken as the paper’s position and our door is wide open to all of the contestants from both sides to write about their vision for their respective parties and the country.

This, however, doesn’t mean that as journalists we don’t get to ask the hard questions to the contenders. Such was the case with PN leadership hopefuls Adrian Delia and Chris Said who have been grilled by our news editor. The same treatment was applied to the candidates, hailing from the Labour camp, for the post of Deputy Prime Minister. Unfortunately, Helena Dalli made it impossible for this newsroom to interview her, but kudos to Ministers Fearne and Scicluna who did not shy away from their responsibility to submit themselves to our scrutiny.

The debate on who should occupy these posts shouldn’t be solely based on their individual merits, whether they are male or female or if they are party insiders or outsiders. People should assess who suits best the interest of the country at this particular moment and in the near future.

In the case of the PL, more probably than not, the next deputy Prime Minister will be vying for the top post come 2020 or thereabouts when Joseph Muscat calls it a day. So those electing the Deputy Prime Minister need to keep that scenario in mind. Equally, the next PN leader may be the next Prime Minister so it is crucial for the electors to choose someone with enough energy and fresh ideas to take the party into government. The PN leader will also have the task to restructure the PN and steer it into territories lost by the PN over the past few years.

What is most important for the media is to help the public form an informed opinion rather than push the candidates into a cockfight to reap clicks. Cheap accusations or assessments based on sympathy will not offer the balanced analysis expected from seasoned media experts. Our readers expect us to scrutinise the contenders and be left alone to judge the outcome.