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Why were the Green Party delegates so conspicuous by their absence from all the official accession celebrations last week? Was not accession made possible also through the support of the Green Party, or has the PN become forgetful of its responsibilities?
Let us therefore remember. In the referendum less than 54 percent of the population voted for EU membership. In the Local Council elections held on the same day the Greens polled 6.1 percent in the districts they contested. Would anyone doubt then that the Greens voting yes in the referendum were significant? Did Malta have a hope of EU membership without Green support? The Green contribution to this event was obviously vital and yet someone seems to have decided to carefully edit this PN revised version of how events unfolded in the very recent past.
Then came the General Election. Alternattiva Demokratika unconditionally offered alliance for the purpose of securing the referendum result. The PN refused. If nothing was asked of them why did the PN refuse? What the pro-EU grassroots demanded was a solid pro-EU alliance. The Greens acceded to this need, the PN did not.
Did the fear that the true support for the Green Party might become manifest blind the PN leadership? The notorious tribe mentality very swiftly, very smoothly slid into action and (as is the habit with these old-fashioned party methods of doing parochial politics) the Country’s interests were quickly traded for those of the Party.
Was it possible for Alternattiva Demokratika contesting the general election, to garner the same 6.1 percent support that it won in the council election? Horror of horrors, no not allowed!
All pro-accession voters could have easily given the Greens their first preference vote in full safety. That would have meant 3 or 4 Green MPs elected within the alliance. Oh, horror of horrors, no not allowed either! It would have changed Maltese political history, except that that has always been, and still is the prerogative of the powers that be (note the PN language that is used in this regard: ‘we are making history’ and such similar phraseology). Even the MLP would have had to reform to adjust to such an overwhelming reality.
But of course the PN’s response to this unconditional offer of support never came. The PN counter-offer was enlightened: a seat in parliament in return for not contesting the election. That must have made the PN leadership proud of their sheer magnanimity. Obviously the refusal was immediate.
To go to parliament co-opted by another party is a betrayal of the principles of radical democracy that the Green Movement embraces internationally. By opting out of the election, Alternattiva Demokratika would have ceased to be a political party in terms of law until after having contested another election.
Not a sliver of media airtime would have been allowed by law, and the Party would not have been entitled to scrutinize the voting process at any time before the 2013 general election. Perhaps it was even assumed that by refusing this offer, AD would have no choice but to opt out of the 2003 election.
The enormous commitment to EU membership practised by AD might even have implied (to the PN pundits) that AD had compromised its strength.
Surely AD would not do anything so rash as to threaten the vote for accession.
The Nationalists also knew that AD would stay by their word and keep the alliance negotiations confidential as requested by the PN unilaterally. The PN would not have wanted to make its fear public of course and so any mention of the offer made to the Green party had to be denied.
This looked like checkmate for the Greens, the end of the line. Maybe for the PN leadership the Green Party, Alternattiva Demokratika was dead as a dodo (not to mention any of those endangered and extinct other species that, thanks to years of negligence, have now vanished leaving us all so much poorer).
To contest the 2003 election without threatening EU membership, AD restricted its campaign to the 8 district, the leaders’ district where a surplus of votes going to the other parties’ leaders meant that they could be elected on second preferences. This could happen without threatening the first count vote in the shootout between the PN and the MLP.
In Malta’s political culture it was inconceivable that a political party would ever conduct such a generous campaign. Unbelievably and contrary to the parochial MLPN credo, AD campaigned to shed votes in favour of the PN.
Just a few weeks before, AD had had councilors elected in Birkirkara and Lija. In Lija the Green Party councilor was elected with 20 percent of the vote. AD therefore did not need a single No1 vote in the general election. This was merely electoral system gymnastics and there was no reason for it to fail.
In the event that the PN did not poll more than 50 percent of the vote, only the election of a Green MP would have saved the day for EU membership.
Only in the event of three parties gaining seats in parliament would the bipartisan and exclusively designed mechanisms (created to bolster that party, from two, that gains the absolute majority) not have come into play. Once more a decision was taken according to the needs of the party rather than the country. AD had to be brought down.
The final assault took everybody by surprise. In the last few minutes of the last speech of the PN 2003 election campaign, the PN leader aimed his canons at his allies rather than at his rivals.
Any disinterested and intelligent observer would have seen the rashness and stupidity of this. The elimination of the Greens meant that there was to be no safety net for EU membership had the PN failed to make the 50 percent mark as had happened in 1996.
The PM highlighted the ingratitude of AD in refusing his offer of a co-option into parliament. He did not mention that his speech was itself an abuse of the confidentiality with which he had bound AD in the interest of his own party. The Greens had kept their word, and the PM used their bond against them. No mercy was spared.
The PN was obviously relying on its surveys. It must have been confident that it had a comfortable absolute majority. In that case the PN were assured of a majority of 3 or 4 seats in parliament.
No Green MP would have been a threat, so they could have the luxury of denying the Green representation in parliament. The EU accession was ensured, but the end of parochial bi-polar pseudo politics was postponed.
At that point where the election was won and lost the outcome was certain.
Malta would join the EU and that was what AD had strived for. It was a victory without honour for the PN.
As for AD it was not a defeat: more like a glorious exploit, long to be remembered in the annals of Malta’s real political history. AD won the hearts of the Maltese.
It should therefore come as no surprise that the PN made sure to deny AD access to any of the official functions linked to EU accession, in the event of resurrecting the ghost of the PN’s lowest moral ebb. The PN souvenir pictorials will not sport any non-PN faces. That is for sure even though they are paid for with the people’s money.
History though cannot be denied. The EP election set free all our political prisoners. Nobody need suffer the political blackmail of the major parties any longer. We can all choose the best candidate for our preference vote. Nothing can stop us, not even slander.
It is not true that AD supports abortion. Within the International Green Movement AD has always declared itself distant from reiterating abortion. On the other hand within the PPE (the PN allegiance) are to be found groups that are not merely in favour of abortion but actually introduced it in their countries when they were in power (Andreotti for instance, the recent lauded guest of AZAD).
The future must have its way and the Greens will break through, and lead Malta to a new political era. Only the Green success will ensure this. All else promises just more of the same: a disastrously costly political mentality far beyond its due by date. This time around when the Greens win, everybody wins. Everybody knows this. Everybody except pinhead fanatics can welcome it with wide-open arms.
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