As the electoral campaign draws to a close in the coming days, the overwhelming sensation among the majority of voters is unlikely to be satisfaction, but relief that this tediously long episode is finally drawing to a close.

Weariness is evident everywhere: from voters, to businesses which have been complaining of stagnation during the course of the campaign, to the media who have run out of constructive things to say, to the politicians themselves who have been looking more like punch-drunk bar-room fighters than inspirational figures who can take the country forward.

The discussion on how Malta should handle the energy issue which dominated the opening fortnight seems like a distant memory. Labour immediately rolled out a proposal to build a gas-fired power station and, after a stuttering start, the Nationalist Party set about trying to demolish it.

In truth, we do not really know who won that argument. Labour’s two-year timeframe was certainly unconvincing and its promised price reductions against a background of gas prices rising elsewhere in Europe certainly raises a number of questions. However, the Nationalist Party found it difficult to negotiate the argument as to why they had not gone down the gas route themselves much earlier.

If that was phase one of the campaign, phase two was bonanza time; where the parties went to great lengths to promise anything from tablet computers to children to paid study breaks for Malta’s students who are already among the most mollycoddled tax burdens in the world.

Against a depressed European economic climate from which no one has been spared – though the Nationalist Government can rightly boast that unlike many of its counterparts elsewhere in the EU it managed to keep Malta on a steady keel – these giveaways may turn out to be luxuries the taxpayer can ill afford, especially given the measures such as income tax cuts which were in the 2013 Budget which has not yet taken effect.

Throughout these phases, however, the discussion remained good-natured, if combative. However, in the past few weeks things have degenerated beyond recognition as the campaign entered a final phase.

There were revelations of an oil scandal, which has turned out to be much bigger than anyone imagined and which both parties have used for political mileage, as well as one illicit recording after another of high-profile people saying things they should not have said.

The most damning recording related to the Labour Party, with Joseph Muscat most unconvincing in his handling of the drugs find at a party club and his outright refusal – despite saying the PL made mistakes – to demonstrate accountability. A question people will legitimately be asking is if this will be a feature of a Labour government.

Yet there is no doubting that the Nationalist Party virtually abandoned an initially positive thrust to focus its energy on attacking Labour through every available means.

It is most unfortunate that The Times has not been spared from what can only be described as a dirty smear campaign. Our response, as the robust – in all senses – organisation we are, is to do what we have always done: which is to serve our large audience above all else. The debate we organised in the past week was a hallmark of the credibility we cherish and others envy.

While no one should expect any let-up in the next few days as the parties take the battle to the wire, one can only hope that voters will feel sufficiently informed by the end of this marathon to take an informed decision. The importance of making a good choice remains paramount.