The unfortunate abduction of Martin Galea in Libya, if anything, shows how some people are ready to try and score political goals at all costs. This, in general, applies to some core supporters on both sides of our political divide.

However, one must take note that both the present and former prime ministers, Joseph Muscat and Lawrence Gonzi, desisted from such low tactics, which, more often than not, end up blowing up in your face.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Opposition leader Simon Busuttil who leaves no stone unturned to put partisan interests before those of the country.

One could say that, since ours is an active democracy, everyone has the right to constructively criticise the government of the day.

There is more to democracy than just having a local council election every so often

However, during Galea’s ordeal, Busuttil should have been four-square behind the government, not only for the sake of Galea himself but also for the sake of the people’s unity at such a delicate moment.

Such an approach would have, at the same time, spared us the hysterical blame game against the government that featured on the blogs of certain media portals.

This brings me to the government’s proposal to delay the local council elections by two years or four, in some cases to coincide with the elections of the European Parliament.

This proposal seems to have irked the Opposition and some opinion writers on the pretext that democracy will be undermined if such elections are not held on the pre-established date.

The government is arguing that the Maltese people are tired and suffering from election fatigue and that the proposal would also save taxpayers some €2.5 million.

When the local councils were established, to the credit of the Nationalist government of the time, the Labour Opposition, headed then by Alfred Sant, had argued that local councils should be left out of partisan politics so as not to further polarise towns and villages. The Church applauded the proposal but both the Nationalist Party and Alternattiva Demokratika came out against and shot it down.

Local councils were meant to be run by the people for the people.

Unfortunately, partisan agendas again won the day and the Labour Party reluctantly joined the bandwagon sometime later.

At the end of the day, the local councils were deprived of the best possible people who wanted to participate but who did not wish to be seen as supporting one party or the other.

We now have a situation where the agenda of local councils is dictated by the parties from their Ħamrun and Pietá headquarters with party committees in the localities also interfering directly.

This is what undermines democracy and not the proposal to extend the present councils’ term of office. There is more to democracy than just having a local council election every so often.

Moreover, while partisan politics in local councils may work in big countries, like the UK or Italy, it does not necessarily mean this model is also suitable for tiny Malta.

Perhaps, the extended time should be used to propose a radical reform of the local councils system and keep partisan politics out for the sake of our towns and villages as well as for the country in general. That will surely help to decrease polarisation.

The central government also needs to focus on governing the country for the rest of the legislature rather than having to make a pit stop every year or so, which may impact some important decisions that need to be taken but that could risk being delayed or even shelved due to electioneering.

Surely, the cost of shelving such decisions would be much more than the estimated €2.5 million mentioned as savings if the local council elections are delayed.

If we are to improve our standard of living and reach the levels of the most advanced countries of the European Union, we need the government to remain focused on attracting more investment, increase the rate of growth of the economy and remain competitive.

To achieve these objectives, the momentum must be sustained and remain continuous.

Victor Carachi is president of the General Workers’ Union.