It is becoming ever clearer day by day that the PM is not avoiding elections because he can resist being tickled as he said, but rather because he does not want to drink from the bitter cup of defeat, or even more so crushing defeat.

That is why he insists he will hold elections in October. That does not mean that the electoral cycle cannot be expedited if the Prime Minister and his campaign team believe that could produce a manageable defeat.

That is demonstrated by the fact that government has of late been preoccupied with handing out social benefits signaling electoral readiness.

Through hiring and the “Economise” programme or through a communications strategy of exploiting issues such as prosecution related to the loans of political parties, the government is struggling to improve the electoral environment and create the conditions for achieving a creditable showing in the general election.

The opinion polls show that for now these conditions do not exist. Of course, hope dies last.

The electoral horizon can be measured by opinion polls but also by the results of the European Parliament election in May.

All bets are off in terms of the timing of the general election.

The possibility of the PM even slightly surprising his opponents with a snap election no longer exists.