The 2022 election campaign is over. The people have voted, and the counting process will begin this morning.
We will likely have a clear idea of the outcome by late morning. The Labour Party was in the lead according to surveys throughout the entire campaign, but the size of that lead is in question, with the various surveys having shown different margins throughout the past weeks.
The argument could be made that this election is more about the gap between the PN and PL, than who will actually win. The Labour Party wants to keep the gap as it was in 2017, or grow that gap, while the PN wants to shrink it down as much as possible. If the gap is slashed by a large amount, it could be the case that both parties will claim some sort of victory – the PL for winning the election, the PN for reducing the gap.
It was a more muted political campaign than we are used to here in Malta. This is due to three major factors.
The first is the war in Ukraine overshadowing local politics. Everyone was following the news and was concerned with Russia’s invasion of the eastern European country.
The second factor is political fatigue. It has been a heavy five years politically for Malta - from the removal of Joseph Muscat as Prime Minister and Labour Party Leader due to his government’s connections to Yorgen Fenech, to the internal issues within the PN that saw Adrian Delia replaced as leader – both situations that led to internal party elections. The MEP elections in 2019, numerous scandals… people are tired.
The third could be Covid fatigue. People have been, since March 2020, living in a different world and the country was just starting to get back to some form of normality before the campaigns began.
This is not to say that the past five weeks have not been eventful, but rather that it seems to have been a lot more quiet than past general elections in the country.
Both campaigns kicked off with major proposals. The Labour Party began by pledging €700 million for environmental projects. This indicated the party’s focus on the environment for the campaign.
The PN’s main focus at the beginning of its campaign was its 10 new economic sectors pledge, indicating its focus on the economy.
Manifesto strategies
The PN was the first to launch its electoral manifesto, during the first week of the campaign. The manifesto was split across 15 themes with a total of 553 electoral measures. It also had other measures which were not part of the manifesto itself.
Some of the major proposals include the trackless tram, which became a controversial proposal during the campaign.
The manifesto outlined the PN’s focus on Environment, Social responsibility, and Governance, which became a principle on which the PN would lead the country should it win.
The PL’s manifesto came in the third week of the campaign. The PL chose a different approach, releasing its proposals gradually until this point. Abela had promised 1,000 ideas, and the PL’s manifesto included that number of proposals.
Both strategies had their merits and their shortcomings. The PL’s slow release of their proposals meant that they were able to have the ‘new’ feel for longer, whereas the PN publishing its manifesto early meant that anyone who read it would not feel the need to follow as much. The downside of the PL’s strategy was that it took quite a bit of criticism for delaying its manifesto launch, with the PN arguing that the PL wasn’t ready for the election and that it was copying the PN’s proposals.
A two-party race
There are a number of third parties and independent candidates who also contested the election. While good proposals were fielded by some, it has been a two-party race.
ADPD’s Carmel Cacopardo did very well in a debate held at the University of Malta. The Green’s leader was praised for his realistic and succinct interventions.
Independent candidate Arnold Cassola has been very vocal over the past few years, and his calls for investigations even led to the resignation of certain cabinet members throughout the legislature.
But according to surveys, the third parties didn’t seem to have a lot of support. As to whether a third party or independent candidate will be elected, we will soon know. Regardless, they continue to play an important role in keeping the bigger parties on their toes and perform important duties in Malta’s democracy.
Outside factors
A number of issues that were unrelated to the campaign proposals became front and centre of the political discussion in the country for a while.
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia saw Malta receive some criticism over its sale of citizenship scheme.
There were several calls for Malta to stop selling citizenship to Russians, in view of the international sanctions imposed against Moscow. The PN had also been mounting such pressure.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola delivered a speech in the European Parliament about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and even said "we can no longer sell passports to Putin's friends allowing them to circumvent our security."
Eventually the government caved but would not admit that this was due to international pressure. Instead, the government said that it suspended citizenship applications for Russian and Belarusian nationals as it cannot currently effectively carry out due diligence on such applicants.
The rising costs around Europe due to the war were also an issue that many people are concerned about. The government subsidised energy costs as a result, to keep prices stable. Abela had stressed the importance of continuing to keep them stable. Grech had said that a PN government would also continue subsidising energy costs.
Regardless, the rising costs of goods are still on people’s minds.
Another outside factor that became a talking point during the election was Malta’s grey listing.
The FATF made the initial determination that Malta has substantially completed its action plan and warrants an on-site visit to verify that the implementation of Malta's AML/CFT reforms has begun and is being sustained, and that the necessary political commitment remains in place to sustain implementation and improvement in the future. The visit has been set for April.
This was good news for the Labour Party, that was the target of criticism by the PN over the country’s grey listing since it happened.
The business community had also aired their concerns with regards to the banking sector in Malta.
It was said that the bureaucracy businesses are facing with banks is causing issues. Reacting to this, Grech said that the banking issues are caused by Malta’s greylisting. “It is a reality we face, and we were not placed on the list by coincidence, but due to the way the government operates.” He said that the increased bureaucracy was caused by the PL.
Abela, meanwhile, said that he sometimes feels like he is losing his patience with banks. “While I understand the importance of the regulatory aspect and understand that banks increased due diligence and their scrutiny processes, which is good and is needed, there is extra bureaucracy which I frankly struggle to understand.” One of the PL’s manifesto proposals he said, is to introduce the right to a bank account for businesses and the self-employed.
Prime Minister and property
During the campaign, the Prime Minister’s past property dealings came to haunt him. It emerged that Abela had a stake in a property deal back in 2018 which was eventually transferred to Christian Borg, a man recently charged with kidnapping.
Abela denied making a €45,000 profit from the deal as had been reported. He also denied using his prior links to the Planning Authority to influence permit decisions.
But this was not the only property related issue the PM had to deal with. Abela also reacted to news reports that he purchased his 2,200sqm Zejtun ODZ villa in 2017 just three months after it was regularised by the PA. Abela denied that he had interfered in any way in the planning process and said that all the relevant permits had already been issued when he purchased the property.
Proposals that became talking points
The campaigns saw a number of proposals made by the PL and PN.
Some of the main ones spoken about during the campaign revolve around the environment.
As previously mentioned, the Labour Party pledged €700 million for green projects, This investment will lead to, among other things, St Anne's Street in Floriana being turned into a public garden and traffic being redirected underground, as well as a number of other projects.
The PN pledged to increase Outside Development Zone (ODZ) land by 50,000 square meters each year, and that “in order for land to be taken back out of ODZ, a two thirds majority in parliament would be needed.”
The problem is that both parties do not have a good track record on the environment whilst in power.
Both parties promised to do something about Hondoq ir-Rummien. The PL said that it will assure that this zone will not be developed in any way whilst seeing to it that works will be done to make the bay a nicer place so that it can offer a better environment for those who visit.
The PN had earlier pledged, if elected, to buy the area around Ħondoq ir-Rummien back from its private landowners and turn it into a national park.
The PN biggest single pledge was €1bn to generate ten new economic sectors, which include the Metaverse, specialised manufacturing, 3D printing, AI applications and others.
Abela had also pledged to widen the tax bands. Abela said that parents will not be paying income tax on the first €12,000 earned during a year.
Grech said that all unpaid taxes and social security contributions which businesses have accumulated during the pandemic will be allowed to be paid over eight years under a nationalist government.
The Labour Party also made proposals regarding IVF, to extend the service to allow more couples to attempt to become parents, were well received.
Controversial pledges
Two particular pledges saw quite a bit of controversy during the campaign.
The PL flip-flopped over a proposal regarding mandatory union membership. One proposal in the Labour Party’s general election manifesto stipulates how the party is, in principle, in favour of making membership in a trade union mandatory and that the party would seek to start discussions to that end within the MCESD.
Employers’ associations raised a number of issues with this proposal, arguing that forcing workers to join a union goes against the constitution and human rights. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne said that the mandatory union membership proposal on the PL’s electoral programme does not force workers to join a union, but rather it seeks to protect the rights of workers who “fear joining a union,” he said.
Abela later said that this proposal came to be as there are workers whose working conditions render them vulnerable, and that the government has a social duty to protect these workers. “We must do this in agreement with employers and this is why I am looking forward to this discussion.” Further asked about this issue, Abela said that “the rule is that workers will always be given the right that if they do not want to join a trade union, that right naturally will remain.” But then, pressed again and asked whether, if elected, the decision might be taken with the MCESD not to implement it, he said: “I am convinced that in the MCESD, as we reached agreement on crucial issues for the leadership of the country in the most difficult times, we will reach agreement on this proposal.”
The PL’s confusing and contradicting comments on this issue only led to confusion over the topic and to this day, while indicating that it has backtracked, is still unclear.
The PN also took some flak on this issue for backtracking. The PN had proposed mandatory union membership for those workers earning less than the average wage (median wage) in its pre-budget document last year. During this election, however, Grech has said that it is not acceptable to force workers to join a union.
The PN’s trackless tram proposal also took some flak. Conflicting messages were made, where one PN MP said that arterial roads from where it will pass will narrow to a single lane, and another MP saying that no existing traffic lanes will be lost despite the trackless tram requiring a dedicated lane.
The PN took aim at the PL’s metro by saying that the Labour Party didn’t even factor its cost into its costings for the PL’s manifesto, while Abela called the PN’s trackless tram proposal a bendy-bus repeat.
Costings
While the PN issued its manifesto early on in the campaign, it took up until the last few days for it to release its costings. The PN was criticised throughout the campaign for this.
The PN’s proposals would cost €5.97 billion. Abela said the PL’s manifesto would cost 3.3bn.
While the PN took very long to release its costings, they were more detailed than the PL’s that just gave out the final amount.
Controversy, scandal
A number of controversial issues emerged during the campaign.
Firstly, it emerged that PL MP Rosianne Cutajar was paid €28,000 in termination benefits from public funds for her resignation from the post of Parliamentary Secretary after she was involved in a scandal concerning a property transfer including Yorgen Fenech.
The Prime Minister was confronted over this and indicated that he did not agree with the €28,000 termination package, saying such practices are “not compatible” in the case of cabinet members who resign after being involved in a scandal.
The handing out of cheques to the public was another hot topic. The government gave out two cheques, one was a tax rebate and the other was a stimulus cheque, to the public. While Abela saying that the government cannot postpone decisions that are going to help people, the move was still criticised as the timing – right before an election - raised concerns that this was an attempt to manipulate voters.
Lastly, the week leading up to voting day saw a scandal emerge. It emerged that some prisoners who, legally, were not meant to vote, were found on the electoral register. Early voting at the prison had taken place, and the PN filed a court case over the issue.
But the three judges of the Constitutional Court dismissed the case, ruling that the Constitutional Court - Malta's highest court - did not have legal jurisdiction to decide it.