The habit of corrupt practices

Mocked by a journalist after a teenager was arraigned over what was evidently no more than a youthful prank, a former police commissioner insisted that, as long as the act in question was deemed an offence by law, he was duty bound to prosecute.

The electoral commission appears to have adopted a different approach. As such, what to many are tantamount to corrupt practices do not seem to ruffle any feathers at the electoral office.

The bottom line: the corrupt practices provisions of the General Elections Act continue to be respected in their breach.

Both before Saturday’s election and even in the hours after the result was out, the Nationalist Party complained that the cheques mailed by the government to most households in Malta over the past days potentially amounted to a corrupt practice.

The cheques – to pensioners, workers and students – were ostensibly part of a €70 million stimulus package to help families deal with the increase in the cost of living. Welfare cheques usually come from the government department responsible for social security, but these were accompanied by letters signed by the prime minister and the finance minister.

The timing, the manner in which they...