BusinessToday Previous Editions

9 EDITORIAL BusinessToday is published every Thursday. The newspaper is a MediaToday publication and is distributed to all leading stationers, business and financial institutions and banks. MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EDITOR: PAUL COCKS BusinessToday, MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN9016, Malta Newsroom email: bt@mediatoday.com.mt Advertising: afarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt Telephone: 00356 21 382741 D uring this election campaign we have witnessed a plethora of pro- posals from both the Nationalist Party and the Labour Party aimed at cre- ating growth and new investment in the economy. e proposals have been far and wide and have been geared to leave more money in the hands of the consumer. Both parties have steered away from diverting the stresses in the economy on the purchasing power of the consumer. And there have been some daring proposals on both sides of the political spectrum that merit a serious discussion – especially those dealing with a new transport blue print for this island. Both have been over generous with their hand-outs. And both the PN and PL have promised no taxes. ey declare this in the aftermath of a global pandemic that strained economies and saw debt rising and in the middle of a very worrying war on the doorsteps of Europe. ey say this in the light of growing inflation, fuelled by rising fuel prices, incremental rise in retails prices and an exponential growth in logistical supply chains. Both parties lacked the honesty to de- clare that the future was not exactly rosy and that many challenges faced all coun- tries in the EU27. Not only that, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed the dynamics of the new economy and left us with many unknowns. It is irresponsible for political parties to devote endless press confer- ences to a spending spree over the next five years when there is a certainty that inflation will be shattering the peace. is has been an uneventful elec- tion campaign; people's attention has been fixated on the war or completely switched off from the election. e two political leaders have attempt- ed to address their constituencies, in some cases by promising difficult lobbies with attractive promises that are indeed very short sighted. To be fair to the Nationalist Party, there was an effort to avoid negative cam- paigning and this contributed to a much calmer and less confrontational cam- paign than 2013 and 2017. On the other hand, in presentations and the few debates witnessed between the two leaders, Robert Abela came across as more informed of his propos- als and of the numbers behind each and every proposal than Bernard Grech. e overriding considerations with the electorate are primarily these three con- cerns. e first is continuity, in terms of eco- nomic stability and growth. In this re- spect the Labour Party still gains high points. e second consideration is a general consensus that this election should not award the Labour Party a result simi- lar to those in 2013 and 2017. ere is a genuine concern that a third election with a landslide victory for the PL would be counterproductive and lead to more serious mistakes by the Labour Party. e third thought concerns govern- ance issues. ose primarily concerned with these will castigate the Labour Par- ty. But one has to see how sizeable this cohort really is. e MaltaToday surveys which have been released every day for the last three weeks, indicate an electoral divide of around 27,000 to 30,000 votes. Any- thing could happen and the turnout will be the first indication of how big the di- vide really is. If the turnout is low, and by low we mean 86% (last time round it was 92%), it could very well mean that the incumbent party will be the biggest loser, in terms of the difference in votes. What is sure is that the real result will be known on Sunday morning. And it will indicate where this country is going. One thing that appears to reign su- preme in the voters' minds is stability and continuity. But then again, no one can reall tell. As always, it will be an election which will see three type of voters: the voters who will vote wholeheartedly for a par- ty. the voters who will cast the vote but invalidate it, and the voters who will choose not to pick up or cast their vote. All these three categories have sent a message. And none of them should be ignored. The next five years 24.3.2022

• Cover