Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1422293
NEWS ANALYSIS 6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 27 OCTOBER 2021 General election date: How Abela toyed with cry-wolf PN AS soon as the budget was an- nounced for October, MaltaTo- day had described an election at the end of November as "ex- tremely unlikely", despite per- sistent stories in the PN media which announced with certainty an election in November. Logically the only real choice for Abela was either that of holding an election before the budget, at the risk of being ac- cused of deceiving the country on the state of its finances; or an election next year in which the government would have already committed itself to the budget's fiscal tar- gets. An election in No- vember was unlikely because it would have meant a messy and unprecedented inter- ruption of the budget debate. The last time an election was called for immediately after a budget was dictated by the collapse of the Gonzi adminis- tration after it failed to secure approval for the budget. Abela had no such compelling reason to seek electoral approval for a budget set to be approved by a parliament in which Labour has a strong majority. Yet, had he opted for an elec- tion in November the govern- ment would have had to rep- resent the budget for approval after being re-elected. This would have sowed doubts on whether the budget would be changed after the election, espe- cially in view of clouds brewing on the international economic horizon with regards to energy and food prices, which may well undermine the budget's opti- mistic projection on revenue from growth. Moreover the proximity of the Christmas season made an election even more unlikely. Not only this would have under- mined Christmas shopping and angered a category of self-em- ployed which Labour wants on its side, but such an illogical de- cision would have further sug- gested that the government was desperate to avoid an election in 2022 for reasons not known by the electorate. In short, by now announcing an election in 2022, Abela has quashed speculation giving a clear indication that the government's economic and fis- cal projections are on track. Surely Abela was economic with his words, enjoying him- self at playing this game. His consistent message was that he would see the budget "im- plemented" in this legislature, which was in itself a clear indi- cation of a 2022 election. But at the same time he kept the Opposition guessing by refusing to rule out a 2022 election. Until the budget was actually present- ed, it was the Opposition – not him – that was fuelling rumours As MaltaToday correctly anticipated in September when it called off rumours of an imminent election in the PN media, there will be no general election in 2021. So why did Robert Abela keep teasing the Opposition till Monday? asks James Debono