Gloves off: Abela and Grech clash in final leaders' debate

Labour leader Robert Abela and his Nationalist rival Bernard Grech locked horns in the first and only televised debate of the election campaign on Wednesday night.  
In a 60-minute Broadcasting Authority production, both leaders pitched themselves as “credible” leaders ahead of Saturday's election.  
In keeping with his narrative throughout the campaign, Abela leaned heavily on the government’s handling of the pandemic, parading Labour's electoral pledges.  
The PN had a track record of its own for Grech to refer to. He wheeled out the PN’s past struggle for EU accession, borrowed from Roberta Metsola’s success in Brussels, and even referenced the fallout from the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.  
It was the closest to a heated confrontation between the two leaders so far during what has largely been a lacklustre campaign. 
Abela’s responses were punctuated with precise figures and timelines, something he repeatedly accused the PN of lacking.  

As he repeatedly pledged to be “humble” if re-elected, Grech hammered on issues like greylisting and corruption.
A low point of the debate came when Abela accused Grech of not toeing the government’s line that Malta is “full up” for...