Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/835410
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 11 JUNE 2017 15 News himself pointed out five faults in the document to prove that it was false and which Busuttil was not able to refute. Similarly, dur- ing the whole election campaign, Muscat repeatedly asserted that he would resign if 'there was any indication' that the accusation against him was true, and turned the tables on Busuttil who would not state that he would resign if it turned out to be false. This truthfulness challenge had in fact taken a turn a few weeks before the campaign. Busuttil had taken the habit of asserting that he was honest and 'clean' in contrast to the secret dealings of the government. However, he stopped using the statement after it was alleged, in March 2017, that he was re- sponsible for the creation of false invoices in order for his party to receive substantial amounts of money from business and, thus going against the Party Financ- ing legislation. Muscat and his colleagues made a big meal out of this revelation and seemed to have restored to some extent some balance of political respect they had lost through the pana- ma allegations. Muscat further dented Busut- til's attempt to present himself as the example of morality by alleg- ing that he had arranged for an out-of-court settlement with an oil company which he had been defending for nine years and se- cured this arrangement from the Cabinet a few days after he was elected deputy leader of the gov- erning party in 2012. Credibility issues in the election campaign Muscat's general political stance had indeed earned him higher trust ratings (that partial- ly reflect belief in one's truthful- ness) than Busuttil throughout the past four years. The reasons for this are not clear but one may point to a contrast in their evaluation of events. Muscat has always shown a readiness to rec- ognise others' achievements, in- cluding those of the opposition, and has also been ready to admit the commission of mistakes. Busuttil in contrast was very economical in recognising the very evident economic success of Muscat's government. Busuttil was always too ready to cry wolf in his evaluations of the Muscat administration: before the 2013 election he predicted that a La- bour government would lead to the need of a bailout in contrast to the ensuing economic boom; or suggesting that in selling Mal- tese passports Malta was selling our children only to declare dur- ing the election campaign that a PN administration would retain the scheme, thus accepting that selling passports may not be so bad after all), or stating during the campaign that the govern- ment had only built a latrine in Gozo when it had completed the magnificent restoration of the Gozo Citadel and succeeded in increasing tourism to Gozo with the subsequent positive financial impact on the Gozitan economy. At the same time Busuttil hard- ly ever admitted to any mistakes and indeed often refused to con- sider them. The second issue of credibility that is very important for effec- tive leadership is whether the leader is able to deliver on his or her promises. Clearly Muscat had a great lead on this aspect. Busuttil had boasted that he had written the 2008 PN Manifesto which, however, included a lot of promises that were left unful- filled. On the other hand, Muscat had even appointed one of his deputy leaders to take continuing action to ensure that what was promised in the PL 2013 mani- festo was implemented. Already in the 2014 European Parliamentary Elections cam- paign he had underlined that the PL had already implemented al- most one third of its promises: '"14 months into the Labour government and we have im- plemented 33% of our electoral programme. Vote for us and give us the energy to change that 33% into a 100%". In last month's election cam- paign Muscat made this as his main issue in two ways. First of all, he started the campaign by setting out a list of positive eco- nomic and other measures that, making reference to his record over the past four years, it was easy for people to believe that he would implement if elected. Secondly, having already the ad- vantage that Busuttil was to some extent taken by surprise by the early call for the election, he was particularly focused on showing that Busuttil's plans were ill con- ceived and could not be possibly implemented. Thus, a great meal was made by the PL out of the first proposal namely that of of- fering €10,000 to people who set- tled in Gozo when he was ques- tioned about details and replied that the details would be given in the first 100 days of government. Similarly, the PL amplified the fact that he made an obviously wrong calculation on the cost of increasing pensions by a specific amount. To crown it all, the PL worked out the costings of the PN promises to show that they either would not be implemented or, if implemented, they would lead to an unacceptable deficit. Muscat's three historic victo- ries had multiple causes, but one can really make the case that his third success was again not due mainly to the economy, but due to his inclusive discourse and action, and his credibility based on a history of generally stick- ing closer to facts and delivering more effectively on his promises. Prof. Paul A. Bartolo is the au- thor of Winning People's Hearts: How Social Inclusion and Exclu- sion Informed the 2013 Malta General Election Campaign – Malta University Publishing, 2015 Muscat's three historic victories had multiple causes, but one can really make the case that his third success was again not due mainly to the economy, but due to his inclusive discourse and action While the PN had been merely talking of needing to listen to the people, the PL had indeed listened empathically and embraced people's aspirations