The campaign is almost over and, on Saturday, we will head to the polling stations for the last time this legislature.

As has become the practice, both the referendum and the local elections campaigns were civil and no incidents were reported. Indeed, the referendum campaign was quieter than expected.

What effect this will have on the turnout remains to be seen. It has been reported that thousands of votes remain uncollected. Still, in view of the fact that the hunting lobby did not boycott the referendum, the turnout should exceed the 50 per cent mark.

The absence of the two major parties in the campaign, while welcomed by all, was felt – and was probably a determining factor in terms of why the usual zeal associated with local campaigns was lacking.

I continue to believe that the only institutions in this country capable of mounting a professional campaign are the Nationalist and the Labour parties. They have the resources and know-how for mobilising the masses.

There may, however, be another reason. This referendum is not about bread and butter issues, nor is it about the introduction of a civil right.

How long do we have to wait for the results?

On Saturday, we will do what we like doing best: voting. The next day we will do what we like doing better: arguing

The process of reconciliation and sorting out of the ballot sheets in packets of 50 will take most of Saturday night. The process of sorting (when the ballots are turned face up and inserted in the relative pigeonhole) is likely to start at about 9am. If the difference between the Yes and No votes is more than five percentage points, the outcome should be known within 20 minutes.

The counting process for the referendum is very straightforward and fast, and the final result will be known within a few hours.

The monitoring of the counting process is left to the political parties. What their counting agents and delegates will be doing is simply a clinical exercise, because their respective parties do not have a direct interest in the outcome.

Thus, the counting hall is likely to be relatively quiet. The only people to express their jubilation or disappointment will be the members of the Yes and No camps.

In the case of the local council elections, we will have to wait another week for the results to be known. Unlike that for the referendum, the counting process for the single transferable vote system, which is used for electing councillors, is slow.

The parties’ agents will have a long day to monitor the counts of each locality. Unlike in general elections, when the first count decides the outcome of the poll, the outcome of local elections is decided by the number of councillors elected by party in each locality. The party gaining the majority of seats in a particular council will have the right to manage it for the next four years.

In the past, we witnessed very tight and interesting races. At times, a party winning the majority of first preferences lost the majority of seats because of cross-party voting. Majorities were won and lost by a handful of votes.

I am almost certain that since the two major parties, in a number of localities in this round of elections, appear to be neck and neck the same will happen.

It will indeed be a long day and the mood in the counting hall will definitely be different from that prevailing for the referendum. In local council elections, every vote counts… literally.

What sort of outcome is one to expect? The 34 localities are predominantly Labour leaning. In the last round of these elections three years ago, Labour won by a 17-point margin. For this Saturday, it is definitely not the underdog, being expected to win again with a comfortable majority.

The Nationalist Party’s main mission is to reduce the electoral deficit as much as it can.

The party in Opposition is also working tirelessly to retain a majority in councils that are marginal and regain a majority in one or two councils it lost by a handful of votes three years ago.

The two parties’ campaigns were somewhat different. Labour organised daily activities under the tent in practically every locality.

For the PN, the campaign can be described in one word: modest. The party in Opposition organised daily visits by the party leader and his deputies to all the localities without too much pomp.

The only two tent activities were held in Mosta, where the party is aiming to retain a majortiy, and Buġibba, which it is seeking to win back from Labour.

On Saturday, we will do what we, as a nation, like doing best: voting. The day after and in the days that follow we will do what we like to do better: arguing.

This is our last chance until the next general election. This is our last electoral appointment.