It is quite common that politicians and political parties contradict themselves. They say one thing because it suits them, only to change tack and do the opposite when the circumstances warrant a different approach.

At times they do it more blatantly.

The Labour Party has filled our streets with billboards showing their candidates contesting for the European Parliament elections. Nothing wrong with that. If anything, the PL is showing its financial prowess, compared to the little that the Nationalist Party can afford to do.

But, aside from plastering the faces and bodies of its nine candidates, the PL has chosen to send another message to the electorate – billboards have appeared showing Nationalist Party exponents who, according to Labour, are “against the country” and “against you”.

Now, anyone who follows the local political scene knows that one of the Labour mantras is to label the PN and all it represents as negative. The PL, in particular Prime Minister Robert Abela, does not miss an occasion to describe his political adversaries as adopting negative strategies. They have said it so many times that it has been ingrained in their blinkered supporters’ minds. This is the first thing that many of them say when they are discussing politics.

“We are positive,” Abela likes to say.

But there’s nothing positive in the message in that particular billboard, showing Roberta Metsola, David Casa, Simon Busuttil, Bernard Grech and David Agius against a dark background – with the caption saying that they are working “against Malta” and “against you”.

Simply because it is not true.

The mistake that the Labour Party has committed with that particular message is that it targets the hard-core Labour supporters, those who always vote for the PL irrespective of its shortcomings. It is intended to please the grassroots, those who see nothing wrong that a former prime minister is criminally charged in court.

Conversely, that message will not attract the undecided, the people who float between parties from one election to another; those who, really and truly, are the ones to decide where elections go.

People who think before forming an opinion know that such accusations against Nationalist Party exponents do not hold water. They know that there have been times – too many of them – that the Labour Party has defended the indefensible, just because the person or persons who happened to be in the wrong were top Labour officials. They also know that the rule of law in Malta does not function in the best of ways. And they also know that some of the country’s institutions have often let us down by not doing their duties.

That such deficiencies are exposed is not a case of being negative. To the contrary, drawing attention to what is wrong is the first step towards making things better. One cannot defend corruption just because the person committing the crime happens to be Maltese.

There’s another thing that needs to be highlighted – this is Labour’s fear of Roberta Metsola. Ever since she was appointed European Parliament president, a highly prestigious post that should make every Maltese proud, the PL has embarked on a campaign to denigrate her, effectively doing to her what the PL accuses the PN of doing.

The more her stature grows, the more Labour will find ways to put her in bad light. And the more they attack her, the more they show that they are afraid of her.