The 2013 electoral campaigns have kicked off as both the PN and PL will hold meetings later on today at the PN Headquarters in Pieta and the Valletta Waterfront respectively.

At 09.30h today, President George Abela will issue a proclamation dissolving the House of Representatives, acknowledge the date for the general elections (which should be confirmed for March 9) and sign the Writ which will officially allow the Electoral Commission to begin creating the voting documents. The main candidates for the post of Prime Minister are Lawrence Gonzi for the PN and Joseph Muscat for the PL.

The PL kick started their campaign last night at midnight when they announced their new slogan 'Malta taghna lkoll' (Malta for all).

December 10, 2012 was the last time that Parliament met and saw the Budget rejected by Parliament as rebel PN MP Franco Debono voted against, as he had been saying from several months before. Both Parties had stated that they agreed to the majority of the budgetary points, however nothing was done to ensure that these pass through Parliament. This set into motion the dissolution of Parliament, which will be officially held today at 09.30h, and the announcement of the General elections.

Both parties had agreed to a 'peaceful' Christmas without politics, which is why the dissolution of Parliament was postponed to today. The election date is believed to be on March 9.

The Deputy leaders have also been playing quite an active role thus far seeing multiple debates between themselves over Christmas. The PN Deputy Leadership election on November 30 last year, seeing MEP Simon Busuttil beat Minister Tonio Fenech for the position.

The Labour Party had their own Deputy Leadership election with a single candidate, MEP Louis Grech, who was accepted on December 28, 2012. This happened after Anglu Farrugia passed a comment about a member of the Judiciary and was asked to resign by PL leader Joseph Muscat.

Over the past weeks, the Unions and Social Partners have been presenting their proposals to be included in the electoral Manifesto's of both Parties.

Both Parties have announced that they will be holding activities on January 13. This will be the longest campaign since 1987 which will last over 60 days and will test the resilience of all involved. Between 1992 and 2008, all general election campaigns lasted just five weeks, which is the minimum time allowed for a campaign.