No serious debate on the public broadcaster as party leaders recite their manifestos and propaganda

Prime Minister Robert Abela has got away with avoiding a serious and challenging debate involving hard questions from journalists, as the final debate between political party leaders organised by the Broadcasting Authority was rtestricted mainly to party leaders presenting their manifestos and propaganda. The Prime Minister avoided a debate between Opposition Leader Alex Borg that was organised by Il-Każin and Times of Malta.

The only other debate hosted by the Public Broadcaster was moderated by Saviour Balzan, in which Prime Minister Abela was allowed to go unchallenged as he cited party propaganda.

The main political party leaders debated each other at the University of Malta in a debate which was characterised by the partisan-charged cheers of students. Party leaders debated each other mainly on economic and fiscal issues at debates hosted by the Chambers of SMEs and the Chamber of Commerce.

We are seeing the result of the Labour Party’s takeover of most of the press and the information space. The general election campaign was conducted with the Labour government’s rules and precedents especially its public debates. The Labour Party has effectively managed to condition the Opposition to remain on the defensive while dictating the agenda of public debate.

Malta is still a liberal-democracy by historical standards but with the State fully captured by the Labour Party, the democratic processes are being abused and misused to favour the party-in-government. The Opposiition has been weakened to the extend that it is not resisting this gradual but very overwhelming takeover by the Labour Party of State and even civilian institutions.

Note, that the traders and merchants have effectively replaced the press in the role of managing public debates and with the sanitisation of the press, the traders and merchants remain the last civilian column holding the government to account. The transition to a populist and Peronist political-economy can’t even be more strikingly clear.

This general election campaign has been an exercise by the Labour Party to consolidate power over State institutions and democratic processes. Labour’s next steps will be to conduct an economic and legal attack against the remaining free press, which has not been subdued, and to carry out a wholesale takeover of the judiciary.