The first week of the election may have seen the two major parties be well-behaved to each other, but the second week ratcheted up the heat as we got to see our first political spat of the campaign between Prime Minister Robert Abela and his Nationalist Party counterpart Alex Borg.
The spat centred around the PN's proposal to build and create what it called a Mediterranean Maritime Fuel Hub just off Hurd's Bank, and therefore create an industry which the party estimated would generate some €450 million for the country's economy and also allow the government to relocate the LNG tanker connected to the Delimara Power Station away from the coast.
The proposal was met with positive reactions, except from, naturally, the Labour Party.
Yet Robert Abela did not criticise the merits, or otherwise, of the project itself. He instead came out with the pretty hefty allegation that the person behind this idea is "Malta's biggest fuel contrabandist", and that he knew this because he had met this same person himself and subsequently discarded the same idea.
Alex Borg responded by issuing a categorical denial of the allegation, solidifying it in the form of a sworn declaration which was presented to the media, and by challenging the Labour Party leader to take any information he might have to the police.
Abela's Deputy Leader Ian Borg meanwhile was evasive about the matter when questioned by the media, and implied that it may even be a "non-story" - yet Abela doubled down again on Friday, insisting that the PN should name the team of experts behind their proposal, and only then would he name who this apparent fuel contrabandist.
What is immediately striking from this spat is that it is the Labour Party which has immediately moved past the merits of the idea itself. Had the scenario been flipped around, no doubt Abela and his party would be lambasting the PN for being "negative" in their criticism.
The nature of the allegations also opens Abela up to his own criticism. By the Prime Minister's own admission, he has met with someone he knew to be "Malta's biggest fuel contrabandist." That in itself leads to several questions: Is it frequent for criminals to be welcomed into Castille for meetings with the Prime Minister? Did the Prime Minister report this individual to the police?
Abela and the PL's narrative is now that the PN should name who the experts behind the proposal are - something that would be very unusual within the context of Maltese politics. Only then, he said, would he name who this apparently fuel contrabandist is.
It's a game of cheap politics which sort of fits in with what we are used to in general elections, but it's also not a game that is usually played by the Labour Party, and it remains to be seen whether it's a game that the Maltese public is really bothered with anymore.
Is it a sign that Abela is somewhat rattled by a PN which appears to be more organised than it has been in past years? Will we see more spats like this as the campaign hots up even more? One thing is certain: we are still three weeks away from election day, and that's a long time in politics.