The past four years were about trust. They started off with the massive trust placed by the electorate in Joseph Muscat. That trust melted like an ice cube in the midday sun, eroded by a long list of scandals.

Last year, we then discovered the Panama kind of trusts.

We found out that three secret offshore financial structures were set up through the services of the Prime Minister’s consultant soon after Labour came to power, in what the PANA committee described as a “textbook case” of money laundering. We expected the Prime Minister to react, to come down heavily on his closest aides, who admitted to owning two of three offshore financial structures. Sadly, he did not.

This lack of action fuelled suspicion that Egrant, the infamous “third” company was his. These suspicions were bolstered when a whistleblower came forward and claimed that there was documentary evidence in Pilatus Bank that proved that Egrant did in fact belong to Mrs Michelle Muscat. As these stories unfolded, we watched in disbelief as the State’s institutions stood by, toothless.

Unfortunately, their inaction comes at a price.

We are seeing a growing mistrust in these State institutions. This mistrust is not stopping at our shores. And this is perhaps the greatest challenge facing our country now.

It is a real and present danger that is already impacting future business prospects. Left unchecked, it can also bring untold harm to our economy.

Our whole economy is based on trust. It is nothing short of being our currency. Investors come because they trust us. They consider us a safe jurisdiction with a solid regulatory environment. They trust our institutions, they trust our laws, they trust our government, and they trust our system. We – the government and the private sector – used this trust to overcome the international economic and financial recession in 2009. We worked together and succeeded together where others failed.

This goodwill is perhaps the single most valuable inheritance that Muscat received four years ago. Muscat inherited a country that could boast of an excellent environment for business, galvanised by credibility and reputation. But this trust is now fast disappearing. Without this trust we have no appeal except perhaps to the kind of investors we do not want to attract.

What do we stand to lose if we lose this trust? The main drivers behind the growth in GDP are financial services and iGaming. These sectors contribute directly and indirectly to our economic well-being.

They are the sectors that are delivering jobs, well-paid jobs that add value to the economy. These sectors require a sound regulatory environment – an environment that is disappearing as fast as our countryside. Various bodies, including the Institute of Financial Services Practitioners, have raised the alarm – warning that without a solid regulatory environment we simply do not stand a chance. No fewer than 30,000 jobs are at risk.

These last days, we saw a number of articles appearing in the international press referring to what is happening in Malta. Articles in influential journals such as The Economist, The Financial Times, The New York Times, Politico and others. Some months back, Muscat gave a monetary value to the coverage Malta received through positive media coverage of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta.

I am sure that if he conducts a similar exercise on the cost of this latest spate of negative articles, he will find that our country is seriously out of pocket. We are being hit hard. Our industries are being hit hard. Companies that were actively considering relocating to Malta are looking elsewhere. Companies that are located here are showing signs of uneasiness. Maltese banks are facing increasing difficulties when dealing with foreign banks.

Muscat cannot be the solution to all this. He is the problem. He created the problem. On June 4, if Muscat is still prime minister, the uncertainty facing these economic sectors will not go away. If anything, it will increase.

As one apolitical but highly influential banker recently told me, a Labour victory could herald an unprecedented level of economic chaos the likes of which we have not seen. This is what is at stake come June 3.

John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, said that one should always vote for principle.

And this is what the Nationalist Party and the National Force are advocating. This election goes beyond partisan politics. It goes beyond electoral manifestos.

It is an election to determine whether we want Malta to remain a truly European country with full respect for the rule of law. A country where institutions carry out their duties. A country where actions have consequences.

A country where everyone – including the prime minister – is equal before the law.

This is the burden of choice being placed on the electorate. It is not between two parties or two leaders. It is a choice between sanity and institutional chaos. It is a choice between normality and illegality. The choice is yours.

Mario de Marco is deputy leaderof the Nationalist Party.