Taxpayers everywhere love a general election as it is invariably the time when most politicians throw caution to the wind and promise the earth. For instance, hardly a general election goes by that parties do not promise a tax cut.

There is no harm done in doing this so long as they do not go overboard. The problem arises when it is clear that the pledges they make are unsustainable. There are already indications that the two main parties contesting the upcoming election may be tempted to offer more than the country can afford, a matter few may bother much about since it is taken for granted that parties do not always honour all that they promise after they are elected.

What ought to determine the outcome of the election are not pledges of tax cuts or refunds but whether or not the country wants to win back the ethical values that Joseph Muscat’s administration has eroded. It is also about wanting to make certain that the country’s institutions, set up to ensure constitutional checks and balances, start functioning well again as they are expected to in a democracy.

The key question is: how finely attuned are the masses to the importance of these basic democratic principles? Only the outcome of the election will answer that question. However, when it is politically argued that sleaze and general misdemeanor are just part of the Mediterranean culture, almost hardly worth losing much sleep over, it is clear that the problem is pretty serious.

Having said this, the parties’ programmes should not be dismissed out of hand, and, as some of the constitutional bodies have already warned, it is important that the pledges made are sustainable as otherwise their implementation would do more harm than good to the economy. A case in point is a Labour Party pledge to give back, if re-elected, public holidays falling on weekends as extra days of leave. This has been called a perfect example of an unsustainable measure.

One association has reminded the government that consensus had already been reached that such measure would jeopardise competitiveness and business operations. When the government showed such keen awareness of competitiveness in the agreement just reached among the social partners to give a financial boost to those on the minimum wage, it is strange that it has now come out with a proposal that, according to industry, will hit competitiveness.

However, the Labour leader has now backtracked a little, saying the measure would not be introduced without the consent of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.

The fact that the economy is doing well and that the government has managed to make a surplus in its budget does not mean that it should now say goodbye to fiscal prudence for the sake of winning back power, more so when projections show that economic growth this year and next year is expected to slow down.

In any case, what counts most in this election are not promises of generous handouts but the need to restore democratic values.

Muscat’s administration has swept aside good governance for a code of administrative behaviour that has weakened these values and reduced institutional roles to irrelevancy. The priority today is therefore to reverse this trend.