(VALLETTA) - Twin rallies attended by some 200,000 people -- half the population of Malta -- on Thursday capped a five-week election campaign in the European Union's smallest state.

Ahead of the general elections on Saturday, the latest voter survey put the ruling conservative Nationalist party neck and neck with the opposition Labour Party as the two sides, both fixtures in Maltese politics, courted undecided voters making up some 11 percent of the respondents.

The Mediterranean island has been ruled by one or the other of the two parties since independence in 1964.

Some 100,000 people -- one-quarter of the population -- filled Valletta's historic Granaries Square, as many waving EU flags as Nationalist and Maltese flags, for the rally backing 54-year-old Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

Across town, at the Luxol football ground in the tourist district of Pembroke, an equal number flocked to a rally in support of opposition leader Andrew Sant, 60.

The Labour rally, though notably less boisterous, was a sea of red and white, the party colours, and burst sporadically into song and fireworks.

"The question before the electorate is, 'Does the country want a clean and serious government that only the Labour Party can offer?'," said the less charismatic Sant, who has campaigned heavily on an anti-corruption platform.

Gonzi warned: "What we have achieved could be lost on Saturday if the election is won by those who have no confidence in the people."

The Nationalist incumbent added: "We have a clear vision for the country and know how to arrive there. We don't sling mud at others."

Voters -- who traditionally produce turnouts topping 95 percent even though voting is not mandatory in Malta -- will decide whether to renew Gonzi's mandate or vote for change in the former British colony.

The Nationalists, in power since 1987 aside from a two-year stint by Labour in the 1990s, hope to build on economic progress since Malta joined the European Union in May 2004, followed by the adoption of the euro this year.

The Gonzi government reined in Malta's financial deficit from 10 percent of gross domestic product in 2004 to just 1.6 percent in 2007. Public debt shrank from 76 to 63 percent of GDP that year.

The unemployment rate, at around 4.0 percent, is among the lowest in EU.

Nevertheless, Malta came in last in this year's assessment, published Monday, by the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think tank, of the 27 EU member states on criteria including the environment, competitiveness, and research and development.

Gonzi and Sant also squared off in a pre-recorded debate aired late Thursday on the eve of a "day of reflection" Friday when all electioneering will be banned.

Sant, who has been criticised for opposing EU membership, now says Labour wants "to make it a success."

Meanwhile, "issues conspicuous by their absence," according to editorialist David Lindsay of Malta Business Weekly, include bird hunting, over which Malta is being taken to the European Court of Justice.

Birdlovers are up in arms over spring hunting of wild birds, which is illegal under EU law but a deep-seated tradition in Malta, which is an important breeding ground for birds migrating between Africa and Europe.

In the end, two small groups -- the green Democratic Alternative party and a powerful hunting lobby -- may wield disproportionate influence, observers say.

"The irony is that it's a small silent minority that will decide the election," television journalist Reno Bugeja told AFP over the roar of the Nationalist rally.

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