The first shots of an eight-week electoral campaign will be fired on Monday evening when the two major parties will rally supporters.

The Labour Party will hold a rally at the Valletta Waterfront and the Nationalist Party will do the same at its headquarters in Pietà.

This is the first time the PL will mobilise its supporters after the election date was set in December when the Budget was voted down.

The PN organised a rally at its headquarters days before a political truce began for Christmas. Monday’s rally is the party’s first official campaign event.

With the longest election campaign since 1987, the PL will be holding its first mass meeting on January 13 in Gozo.

It is unclear whether the PN will start its Sunday mass meetings on the same day but general secretary Paul Borg Olivier said the programme of events would be announced next week.

Dr Borg Olivier said a PN supporter Facebook page claiming the first meeting would be on January 13 was not endorsed by the party.

Labour leader Joseph Muscat yesterday said the party’s campaign would emphasise unity and the country’s need to change direction.

“We will have an open door policy,” he said, adding that a long campaign put the onus on politicians to ensure life continued as normal.

“Ours will be a positive campaign during which we will put forward studied proposals,” he said.