The Nationalist Party may be closing the gap on the Labour government following its almost decade long dominance according to a new survey. 

Respondents in a survey by the Times of Malta said that if an election were held tomorrow, 53.9% would vote for the PL while 44.9% would vote for the PN. 

It’s a 3% shift from the previous month, indicating gains for the struggling opposition in recent weeks. However, it is just a 1.5% increase when compared to the PN’s performance in the 2017 general election.

Still, the figures must be taken with a pinch of salt. Around 25% of respondents did not disclose their intentions or said that they did not know. Voting turnout in general elections in Malta hasn’t dipped below 90% in almost six decades.

Despite the PN’s improvement, Prime Minister Robert Abela still holds a massive margin over his opposite number, Bernard Grech. According to the survey, 48.5% said that Abela was their preferred Prime Minister, compared to Grech’s 15.83%. That’s roughly a 33% gap between the two leaders. 

The PN does seem to be winning back its own voters. The survey shows that 67.7% of people who voted PN in 2017 would vote for the party once again, an increase of roughly 15% when compared with the previous month.

Worryingly for the two parties, it appears that more and more people are losing faith in both their ability to govern with roughly 39% of respondents saying that they believe neither is suited for the job, up by a jarring 8.3%.

This may be reflected in people’s current concerns. The survey says that while health remains the single biggest concern amid the COVID-19 pandemic (43.3%), many remain worried about corruption (21%) and the environment (15%), which has shot up by 6% when compared to the previous month during sweltering heatwaves and several grass fires.

The survey, commissioned by Times of Malta and carried out by market research group Esprimi, surveyed 600 members of the public between 9th and 25th August.