We have entered February, and we are still more than a full four months away from the day when Malta and Gozo will elect their representatives to the European Parliament and local councils.

But it seems that the two major political parties are already at each other’s throats. The way both party leaders are speaking and the way both parties react to each other are highly indicative that the tempo is already increasing. One wonders how high it will go by the time June arrives.

It’s not that the Labour Party and Nationalist Party are ever easy with each other. There is too much at stake for them to relax their grip at any time, but each time an election is approaching, they both increase the level of their respective attacks.

Since Independence, the country has been divided into two. There are a few exceptions to this, of course, as small parties and individual candidates have refused the duopoly and believe that it is in the country’s best interests to have a wider representation, be it in Parliament or even at local council level.

But support for these third parties and independent politicians has been hard to come by, and each time it is always a big struggle for them to make inroads.

And, if there’s anything about which the PL and PN agree, it is the idea to keep third parties at a distance as much as possible. That the gender-corrective mechanism following a general election is triggered only when two parties win parliamentary seats is just one of the examples that could be given as to how the PL and PN see small parties as a nuisance and aim to retain the status quo.

The parties’ respective media, then, almost completely ignore what third parties and individual candidates do, unless of course they stand to gain something. They do, of course, use every opportunity to promote their side and attack the other side.

Lately, the political battle between the PL and PN has been extended to the law courts. First we had the Nationalist Party, through its then Opposition Leader Adrian Delia, going to court to bring back three public hospitals which had been passed on to the private sector under government administrations. Delia won the case, and won the appeal too.

Then, the PN took legal action in an attempt to make the State Advocate recoup what the party says were €400 million that were handed over as a result of what the courts described as a “fraudulent” deal. The government wants to be part of the case too. Both are saying that they are seeking the country’s best interests.

So we are to expect a battle there too and, each time there has been a sitting, we have had the two leaders present in court to push their case and afterwards making statements to the media. It is easy to see that both the government and opposition are giving great importance to this case, largely because of its political ramifications.

And it is likely that the developments of this legal battle will have its effect on the way people will vote. Tied to this is also the conclusion of the magisterial inquiry into the hospitals deal.

Even that will have its weight on the vote to come.