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With the best vote ever achieved by Alternattiva Demokratika, Harry Vassallo says the face of Maltese politics has been changed forever
 “With a growth of 1,300 per cent at the polls, we can only have a repeat if there’s an increase in the population,” says Alternattiva Demokratika Chairman Harry Vassallo with a mischievous grin.
That’s a nice way to hype it up although the 22,000 votes earned by AD’s candidate in the European elections, Arnold Cassola, did jolt the system and the Greens have enough reasons to celebrate.
“It’s the best result for a third party candidate in a national election since 1962,” says Vassallo.
Indeed, Malta behaved in an impeccably European manner at the very first chance, following the Europe-wide protest-voting over domestic political issues and breaking with dominant party politics.
“The face of Maltese politics has been changed permanently,” Vassallo interjects.
Well, that might be a bit premature. With no government at stake and no appeal from Labour for the ‘pale blue’ disgruntled voters, the vote for AD was a breakthrough, but the question is, how long will it last? While it remains an unprecedented victory for the Green party, there must be many who voted for Cassola and who remained disappointed that he was not elected.
“The greatest gain from this election is that Alternattiva has become a viable choice,” says Vassallo. “Until last Monday a lot of people did not consider us as a political player, now a lot of people think we are; all those who voted for us as well as those who didn’t.
“We’re a real option, and so our message has to reach them. It’s not just about keeping the support we’ve gained, but also about addressing those 45,000 citizens who didn’t vote. That’s an issue which should concern everyone.”
Still, there are many people who are disappointed that Cassola wasn’t elected, a lot of whom are first-time voters for AD.
“It’s the results that count at the end of the day, so it’s inevitable that people are disappointed, because they wanted to be represented by Cassola. Even I am disappointed because Cassola at the European Parliament would have been an asset for Malta.
“We have to address this disappointment, but we also have to explain to these people what they’ve done for this country. In the last count we ended up with 11 per cent of votes, the third largest Green party in Europe…the democratic effect was tremendous. The other parties cannot fail to take note of this result.”
Is Vassallo concerned about the resentment of PN sympathisers who voted Cassola and saw three Labourites elected instead?
“I think their resentment should rise from the fact that the PN preferred to see a Labourite elected instead of Cassola. Before the elections we had invited voters to vote for the best five candidates in all three parties. Unfortunately the other parties called for a block vote.
“It was this block vote which was supported by the PN leadership which resulted in the election of a Labour MEP rather than Arnold Cassola. All they had to do was to tell their voters to give Cassola the number 9 vote, but they didn’t because instead of focusing on the MEPs, they were worried that we would strengthen our support by electing our candidate.
“This is coming out clearly. Now Joe Saliba is saying we are his adversaries. I don’t mind being called his adversary; even Beppe Fenech Adami is his adversary. He’ll be contesting his post of Secretary General soon. I wish them both well.”
How does he know that?
“There are strong rumours.”
With the elections over and the Prime Minister conducting his party’s soul searching, Alternattiva must be also rethinking its strategy although Vassallo remains vague about it. He says it would be unfair for him to dictate his party’s strategy as he is not the only one who decides at AD.
“Our success lies on the fact that we do a lot of brainstorming, and now is the moment to get feedback from everyone to improve further.”
He says Alternattiva’s messages will remain consistent with what his Party has stood for since its inception, only that for the first time it will be representing 22,000 voters. After the interview, Vassallo announced in a press conference that the Party was expecting the Broadcasting Authority’s licence to open a television station.
“We’ll continue putting forward our messages, advocating what we always believed in and which now a great part of the electorate also believe in,” he says.
“Our message was ignored for years, we won’t be changing it now. We stand for sensible politics. We don’t attack every tax there is, but at the same time we’re against taxes that stifle business.
“We don’t want government expenditure to grow exaggeratedly, but we’re not for budget cuts across the board which only serve to stall the economy. We have clear economic proposals, and obviously there is the environment. It is clear through the other parties’ speeches that they are trying to appear as environmentalists; it’s impressive at what lengths they go to persuade us, but the people do not believe them.
“Environment ranks number one on the people’s priority, now they have a party which represents them. And when we talk about the environment it’s not about removing litter from the roads, but about the economic, social and cultural importance of the environment.”
The election result also strengthens Alternattiva’s case for electoral reform and it is clear this is a point Vassallo will be insisting on in the coming months.
“The next step in the democratic development of our country is a reform in our electoral system,” he says. “It’s the most basic change we’ll be working for. We cannot afford to leave one in 10 voters unrepresented in the next election.
“We are publicly inviting the Prime Minister and the leader of the Opposition for talks on changing the electoral system to ensure full proportionality. This should be a priority for any party which believes in democracy”.
Gonzi has already stated his willingness to discuss electoral reform but Sant doesn’t seem so enthusiastic. How is Vassallo going to convince him?
“We’re still at the beginning. I don’t expect him to agree overnight. Give him some chance to get used to it.”
But the truth is that the two major parties set the goal posts. AD depends on them for electoral reform.
“Yes, we have our timetable. We won’t go through the process we’ve been through from ’92 to ’95, when we spent years discussing and everything was scrapped when the election arrived. We’ll increase pressure immediately, not just in Malta but also at a European level. From now on, whatever is considered political blasphemy in Europe will also be political blasphemy in Malta.”
Another important issue for Alternattiva is the overhaul of rent laws and a reform of broadcasting law. Vassallo says this election should also serve to stop the hunting lobby’s political blackmail.
The candidate representing hunters on an independent ticket got only 3,000 votes – a far cry from the thousands the hunting lobby always claimed could bring down a government.
“This election also shattered the myth of the hunters’ lobby, whom government and Opposition always feared,” Vassallo says.
Does it mean a case for the abolition of Spring hunting?
“It means we lost all that time during negotiations because of the fear of hunters who are nothing but ghosts. In the environment chapter we had separate negotiations for hunting, that’s something unheard of. It would have been much better if we focused on people’s health or on retaining the plastic bottles ban.
“Look, we intend to put forward our proposals which for the last year, with all the commitment to secure EU membership, were put on the backburner,” Vassallo adds. “It is also time that we push for the right of separated couples to marry again.”
Back to divorce, then.
“Divorce is not a monster,” he says. “It’s been here since 1975. All we need now is for a judge or magistrate to allow someone to remarry.”
He is referring to the year when the Marriage Act was passed, marking clearly the distinction between the State and the Church.
Vassallo says that year was a milestone for Maltese society, although the Nationalist government subverted the State’s secular powers through a secret agreement with the Vatican in the Nineties, turning the Church’s marriage tribunals into the State’s tribunals.
AD will need to fight the reputation of being anti-business if it wants to widen its appeal without seeming to be compromising on its environmental policies. Vassallo says this is not a problem which worries him a lot.
“The problem is that given our limited access to the media, most of the description of our party in many people’s minds is based on second-hand propaganda by our adversaries. I’m not so concerned about it because in the last years I’ve seen people in business who are genuinely realising the importance of being informed about the environment, they are realising that they can compete internationally with companies that have internalised environmental values.
“The same is happening with small businesses catering for the local market. We’re against portraying the environment as a hurdle for business. If you look at tourism, all operators realised the importance of having a clean and healthy environment – not just superficially – to improve tourism. There is no future for tourism if we don’t improve our quality of life.”
It would be astonishing if the 22,000 who voted for AD all did the same in a general election. If electoral reforms do materialise, AD wouldn’t need that much to be able to state definitively that “the face of Maltese politics has been changed forever.” In the meantime, the PN and Labour must start to believe that AD can affect a general election. That, in itself, makes our country closer to European political scenarios which, by the way, was supposedly what this election was all about.
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