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MANY would argue that one of the side effects of Labour's 13 years in power is the uglification of Malta. The now-abandoned Bills 143 and 144 tabled last year, which were meant to improve plan- ning and environmental poli- cies, represented the epitome of a long-standing pattern that takes us back to 2013. A constitutional democracy, flawed but in reasonably good standing, is hit by a transform- ative election. A charismatic new leader, Joseph Muscat, comes to power, propelled by the growing impatience that the electorate feels with things as they are. The leader promis- es to sweep away the dysfunc- tions of partisanship, gridlock, and bureaucracy. He claims to call things by their right names and to speak the unspeakable. He rails against entrenched power, entrenched people, and entrenched structure. He rallies the people by assuring them that the state is theirs. He wins big over the establishment forces and starts a constitu- tional revolution. As time rolled on, it became clear that, first Joseph Muscat and then Robert Abela, had the sole aim of consolidating power and remaining in office indefi- nitely. They both transformed themselves into legalistic au- tocrats by deploying the law to achieve their aims. Impending autocracy may not have been evident at the start. They often followed a script using tactics that they borrowed from each other. In 2013, Muscat launched the controversial Individual Invest- ment Programme (IIP) to sell Maltese citizenship to wealthy foreigners. The scheme was subject to heavy criticism, in- cluding by the EU, and last year the European Court of Justice deemed Malta's golden pass- port scheme incompatible with EU principles. And then there was Muscat's nefarious decision in 2015 to pass the management and re- furbishment of three public hospitals to a private company, Vitals Global Healthcare, in a deal conservatively estimat- ed at €4 billion. It remains the most indelible, greatest privati- sation scandal ever. However, Labour really start- ed to lose its lustre in 2016, when Daphne Caruana Galizia and an international investi- gation revealed that disgraced former Energy Minister Kon- rad Mizzi and Muscat's Chief of Staff Keith Schembri opened offshore companies in Panama. Controversial laws passed by Malta's Labour administrations include a magisterial inquiry reform that alters the timeline for individuals to request up- dates on police investigations, a planning bill that drew criti- cism for being rushed through parliament, and changes to the Employment and Industrial Re- lations Act, which introduced higher fines for employers but also prompted concerns about potential loopholes or insuf- ficient worker protection in some areas. In 2023, to appease demands from certain quarters, this La- bour administration attempted to amend our abortion law by allowing termination of preg- nancy if a woman's life was at immediate risk or if her health was in danger, which could lead to her death. The amendment faced criticism from both an- ti-abortion activists and pro- choice advocates. While some argued that it did not go far enough in protecting women's rights, others expressed con- cerns about the potential for abuse and the sanctity of life. A Labour government also tabled the controversial bill, which, in reality, will grant im- munity to politicians and their accomplices involved in cases of corruption, despite Abela's insistence that the reforms will see officials legally protected from personal liability for their work in office. How does one recognise an autocratic legalist in action? One should first suspect a democratically elected leader of autocratic legalism when he launches a concerted and sus- tained attack on institutions whose job it is to supervise his actions, or on rules that hold him to account, even when he does so in the name of his democratic mandate. Loosen- ing the bonds of constitutional constraint on executive power through legal reform is the first sign of the autocratic legalist. Muscat and Abela knew this and used a simplistic idea of democracy to rail against any constitutional constraint that stood in the way of what the electorate said they wanted. The result of such a successful ploy was simple majoritarian- ism, which can lead quickly to illiberalism. How did Muscat and Abela get away with transforming lib- eral democratic constitution- alism into pure majoritarian legalism? Simple. They hid what they were doing under the cover of conforming rhetoric and used liberal methods to achieve their illiberal results. The combina- tion disarmed their critics and allowed them to entrench their rule. The situation has become even more hideous due to di- rect corruption, including the clientelism or political patron- age that underpins Malta's cur- rent political system. The lack of accountability and lack of in- vestigations make it harder to have a proper reckoning. What has certainly changed in the past few years is a culture of greater permissibility, and that has contributed to greater impunity and made the whole system grotesque. A nation that destroys its democratic principles and the rule of law destroys itself. Mark Said 5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 OCTOBER 2026 OPINION Autocratic legalism Veteran lawyer What has certainly changed in the past few years is a culture of greater permissibility, and that has contributed to greater impunity and made the whole system grotesque Court building in Valletta (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

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