There is little doubt most voters heaved a sigh of relief yesterday as they cast their votes in Malta’s European Parliament elections. The month-long electoral campaign was, on the whole, excessively partisan, boring, petty and devoid of European themes and issues.

Most of the electorate was fed up with the campaign soon after it started as voters were subjected to a campaign with all the hallmarks of a Maltese general election: daily political rallies, an excessively high dose of local politics, personal attacks and important issues skimmed over.

The televised debate between the party leaders on Wednesday evening ignored European issues, was characterised by pettiness and had more in common with an election for a local council. Only Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Arnold Cassola seemed to rise above the small-minded arguments of the debate.

It is correct to state that most electorates tend to vote more on domestic issues rather than European ones in these European Parliament elections, and this is partly because voters have failed to identify themselves with this European institution. This no doubt represents a failure of the political class to talk about European issues and to explain the significance of the European Parliament.

However, in Malta the main political parties have taken advantage of this trend to such an extent that they have almost completely erased Europe from their campaigns. Both Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil made it clear that this election was about Labour’s record in government since last year’s general election; Dr Muscat went even further and said the election was a choice between himself and Dr Busuttil.

Yesterday’s election will no doubt have implications for Malta’s political parties. Labour will almost certainly lose its fourth seat and is also expected to narrow its historic 37,000-vote majority won at the last general election.

There are a number of factors which will shrink the government’s popularity, such as Labour’s pre-electoral promise of meritocracy, which has become a joke, backbench Labour MPs being given jobs, increased unemployment, government pandering to the construction and hunting lobby, the amateurish way the citizenship scheme was introduced, and the Prime Minister’s inexplicable reaction to the Cyrus Engerer case. The Prime Minister even announced a pay rise for former dockyard workers, now employed by the government-owned company IPSL, at Labour’s final election rally on Thursday evening. Dr Muscat called on the party’s ‘soldiers of steel’ to get out and vote, probably prompted by the fact it could not appease its hardcore supporters’ unreasonable demands.

The election is also a challenge for the Nationalist Party and Dr Busuttil. The PN cannot just be satisfied with gaining a third seat and will have to reduce the size of the gap between the two parties by a substantial margin in order to declare a satisfactory outcome. This election, furthermore, will also be a test of Dr Busuttil’s appeal among liberal voters, many of whom switched to Labour at the last election.

Irrespective of the domestic nature of yesterday’s election, the fact remains that the European Parliament has an important function within the EU and will have to deal with some important issues over the next five years such as financial sector regulations, the future of the eurozone, climate change, Europe’s competitiveness, consumer protection and the trade and investment agreement with the US.

We therefore hope that the six Maltese MEPs elected will be the most suitable candidates who will commit themselves firmly towards Malta’s rightful place in the European family of nations.