By showing the zest of a politician who “dares to win”, Alfred Sant scored points with the undecided category of voters who desperately want change but doubt whether the Labour leader had any vision apart from winning the election at all costs.
On Monday Sant might have not have extinguished lingering doubts on his enigmatic personality, but he certainly managed to excite the electorate with a forward looking speech, with its radical proposals such as making overtime tax-free.
On Wednesday, Gonzi might have managed to cast serious doubts on his nemesis’ ability to lead the country, but failed dismally to excite those undecided voters who yearn deep in their heart for a change in government.
Gonzi had one sole mission: to scare voters into believing that Sant is a dangerous driver capable of driving the entire nation into a wall. In so doing, he acknowledged that after his speech on Monday, Sant had bounced back after sinking low in polls with his poor Birzebbugia performance followed by and the budget bonanza.
In a direct reference to Sant, Gonzi warned that when the opposition leader says “who dares wins”, he is playing with everyone’s future. For the first time in months, he even resorted to calling the Opposition leader “Dr Sant”, something he avoided in all major speeches in the past months. On the other hand Sant preferred referring to Gonzi as “the current Prime Minister” – a phrase which evokes the image of a regent about to be dethroned.
While Sant effectively played the TV game by getting reaction shots of a fuming Austin Gatt and a berserk Ninu Zammit, whom he mentioned over corruption allegations, Gonzi’s sole attempt to discredit a potential minister in Sant’s future cabinet – Evarist Bartolo – did not materialise visually, as Bartolo was not present in the house when Gonzi quoted him saying that stipends were not a God-given right for university students. “Is Evarist Bartolo not here?” asked Gonzi in vain, disappointed his target was not even there to take the shame.
One certain consequence of Sant’s effective delivery on Monday was the Prime Minister losing focus in what turned out to be a disjointed speech. While Sant once again proved he is far better addressing parliament than the Labour crowd, Gonzi proved again that he is far more at ease when cheered by his crowd than when cheered by his motley crew of ministers and backbenchers.
Surely this could be a weakness for Sant, since speeches in parliament are few and far between. But it was incredible how Sant managed to steal the limelight despite the feel good factor generated by the budget.
Gonzi was caught between selling his own product and discrediting Sant’s latest proposals. By coming up with new proposals on Monday, Sant succeeded in shifting the debate from Gonzi’s budget bonanza to his own proposals.
Gonzi scored points when he exposed Alfred Sant’s proposal to revert children allowances back to 1995 levels, showing that this would mean that couples with two children earning Lm4,000 would see their allowance reduced from Lm752 to Lm358. On this point Sant pressed the accelerator without thinking beforehand. Now he has to pay the fine for overspeeding.
Gonzi also scored a point or two was by exposing one of Sant’s property proposals as gift to the “big bankers” – the villains of Sant’s Monday literary piece. According to Gonzi, by subsidising any difference between the central parity rate and the interest rate imposed by commercial banks, the Opposition’s proposal was an open invitation to the banks to raise their rates. Instead, the government would only subsidise up to one per cent of house loans over the central parity rate of 3.75%.
Yet Sant’s latest proposal to make all overtime tax-free is a harder nut to crack for the PN. Like the midsummer proposal to give a Cabinet post for the MCESD chairman, Sant’s latest proposal to remove tax on overtime clearly took the PN by surprise. In a country where overtime is an important income supplement for several categories of workers, and where even trade unions oppose the EU’s Working Time Directive, this proposal is bound to be popular – apart from it being legitimised at an international level after being promised and implemented by French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Gonzi’s counter-attack was first to cost this measure at Lm12 million. He went one step further by warning the proposal was “the worse piece of advice to the Maltese worker”, as it would simply encourage workers to shift to a basic wage and declare all other income as overtime. As a result, Gonzi warned workers would end up with a lower pension based on a basic salary.
Once again the electorate is tempted by Sant’s alluring proposal, leaving Gonzi to apply the brakes. Yet it is always difficult to criticise proposals which put more money in people’s pockets. Unlike Gonzi’s family oriented measures, Sant’s overtime proposal also benefits singles. It is doubly difficult to attack proposals perceived to generate economic growth.
Gonzi was also caught between reassuring sceptics that his budget is prudent, while still selling it as a generous one. He spent the first boring 30 minutes of his speech preaching the folk wisdom of thrift. “Our people have always saved and invested in stone and house (gebla u d-dar)… Our people teach us that we have to think long term… It’s true that an election is coming but our priority remains our children’s future.”
He went to lengths to deny that his budget was an electoral one. “If that were the case, we deserve a slap on the wrist.”
Patronisingly, he proceeded to lecture viewers on globalisation and the effect of China’s economic awakening on the price of oil and cereals. After warning voters not to endanger the fruit of their sacrifices and thriftiness, Gonzi proceeded to lash out at Sant.
Yet it was hard for Gonzi to attack Sant’s track record without demonising him. At one point, when referring to an Economist Intelligence Unit report, he was about to mention Sant’s past failure to declare income tax from his part-time job with the unit but immediately jammed the brakes, saying “I won’t remind him of that controversy.”
He was even careful to qualify that when Alfred Sant gives the “wrong advice” he does so “genuinely, but genuinely he is mistaken”. He even toned down his full frontal attack by endorsing one of Sant’s proposals, that of creating an agency to monitor price movement before rubbishing Sant’s aborted devaluation proposal.
Gonzi was quite effective by listing eight instances where Sant gave the “wrong advice” during the past five years, exposing in the process the Leader of the Opposition’s fundamental weakness, his track record. As Gonzi reminded viewers, only four years ago, Sant had advised the Maltese to opt for a Switzerland in the Mediterranean instead of full membership in the European Union.
Yet Gonzi seems to forget that even four years are a very short time in politics. American voters re-elected George Bush in the same timeframe, after taking their country to a disastrous war on a very shaky pretext.
Gonzi also failed to address one important issue highlighted by Sant, the precarious nature of many of the jobs created in the past five years. With the number of those relying on a part-time job for their main income rising to 26,000, Sant seems to have struck a chord with a vulnerable category of people.
Yet Gonzi was right in highlighting Sant’s complete disregard for the environment when he proposed a ludicrous public-private partnership to develop three new stand-alone golf courses.
Ultimately, the epochal clash between two unassuming personalities is turning out as a choice between Sant’s euphoric but sometimes careless zest, and Gonzi’s “safe pair of hands”, an image undermined by a Christmas Budget based on the gamble of a sharp rise in tax revenue, made possible by the ambitious projection of a 4.4 per cent economic growth over the next year.
The end result of this struggle could be a public auction in which the two leaders compete to give the most expensive Christmas present before the election. Surely Gonzi’s honeymoon with the electorate after the big budget bonanza did not last more than a week, and the race is now wide open, with Sant once again showing a remarkable skill in setting the agenda for the electoral campaign.
Expect more surprises from the Opposition leader during the next weeks.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt