When I met Alternattiva Demokratika (AD) Chairperson Harry Vassallo the party’s cramped-up offices in Sliema on Wednesday, he was not too perturbed by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s statement during a press conference the previous day that he would exclude a coalition with AD as the green party was closer to the Labour Party than the PN.
“Prime Minister Gonzi is in fact the only local politician in the last 41 years who sat down on a table and negotiated a political alliance, and that political alliance was going to be between PN and AD,” he said.
Vassallo explained how the opportunity for a coalition with the PN at the last general elections in April 2003 had arisen as a result of their common support for Malta’s accession to the European Union.
He said: “By 2003 we had spent at least three years working in support of Malta’s accession to the EU. That was our policy as approved by the AD’s annual general meeting.
“Since it was also the policy of the PN, we had to work together during the campaigns that took place. Certainly we also took an important role in the MEUSAC core group and we worked untiringly for two years during all the consultation work that took place with all stakeholders to ensure that Malta joined the EU.
“During the referendum campaign, I believe we played a crucial role so that Malta could have a campaign, not based only on the two main parties, but a nationwide campaign in favour or against Malta’s accession in the EU.
“Therefore in this manner, civil society could express itself in a way that was unheard of till now, as by expressing itself with only one party, it would otherwise get involved in partisan politics.
“Everybody remembers the last meeting when there were 23 associations and civil society organisations which could express themselves in favour of EU accession, mainly because of the presence of AD in that coalition.
“Everybody remembers the great difficulty that AD, had together with other protagonists such as Gejtu Vella of UHM, to form that coalition of political parties with civil society,” Vassallo said with a touch of nostalgia.
When the 2003 elections arrived, it was clear that not only AD supporters, but also the great mass of PN supporters wanted the two parties to contest the general elections together due to the fact that we do not want to obstruct one another during a general election.
“Therefore we invited the PN to start discussions for forging an electoral alliance – not like now, but with an agreement in advance – and we started these talks.
“The talks proceeded on a number of sittings, principally with Lawrence Gonzi (at the time deputy PM) and Joe Saliba,” Vassallo recalled.
However things took a turn for the worse as soon as these talks started. “We realised that in spite of our contribution during the EU referendum campaign, the PN did not want to form this alliance.
“Therefore our target during the negotiations was to show the electorate that it was not our fault that the alliance had not taken place and that we had made our utmost so that this alliance – which we knew that the majority of those who had voted in favour of Malta joining the EU wanted – comes to fruition.
“We also were cautious not to get out of these negotiations with the impression given by the PN that we had made an exaggerated request therefore this agreement had not been concluded.
“In fact, to avoid this danger, we did not request anything except contesting the elections together. The PN brought excuse after excuse (not to conclude the deal) and their final offer was that we should not contest the general elections at all.”
“Then after the general elections the Prime Minister would make a speech where he would say that since we had been magnanimous, we deserved a place in Parliament, and he mentioned also the post of Speaker.
“Our reply was that our name was Alternattiva Demokratika and that we wanted to be represented in our country’s Parliament with the votes of the electorate as we deserve, therefore the alliance did not take place.
“I also told Prime Minister Fenech Adami that I would surely not have accepted those conditions and that I was going to refer them to our Committee.
“I gave him the advice not to make that speech where he would say that we were magnanimous, because his sheer lack of magnanimity in not letting AD to contest the general elections would have been exposed,” Vassallo revealed.
“We also found a way of contesting the general elections without reducing the PN’s support by stating that second preferences counted as well. “However during that electoral campaign the Nationalists continued till the last minute doing its utmost to deny us those Number Two votes. This is one of the two parties with which we have been designed since our foundation to form a coalition with.”
In spite of this bitter experience in the last general election, Vassallo is willing to work together again with the PN (as well as the Labour Party) in a coalition after the March 8 general elections.
“With this party we are also ready to work. We know that AD will be in the next Parliament and the attitude of the other parties will be totally different…
Asked how can he expect to form a coalition with PN this time around now that there is no binding factor between the two parties as strong as the EU last time, Vassallo said: “We are not speaking about a coalition with the PN; we are speaking about a coalition that could take place after the general elections have taken place.
“The presence of AD in Parliament would mean that the other two parties would not have an absolute majority. If the PN wins 33 seats in the next Parliament, it would be in government on its own, therefore the option of a coalition would not arise.
“However if AD elects a deputy or deputies in such a manner that the other parties cannot form a government on their own, I would expect that as it is done in all other countries, they would ask for our support.
“On that day, all of us would have the duty in front of the electorate to give a government to this country,” he insisted.
In an interview with MaltaToday, published on 8 August 2006, Vassallo had said that AD would elect “up to four people in Parliament. We can elect people from anywhere.”
However when reminded about that commitment, Vassallo denied that he has said these words.
“No, I’ve never said that. Karl Schembri said that…” he replied curtly.
“Do you think however that you will reach the target of three to four MPs in Parlament?”
“There is no reason why we should not have a number of MPs in Parliament. When one considers the history of AD, the work of people like Arnold Cassola, Mario Mallia, and, I am not ashamed of saying, myself.
“Now there are also people with a track record and political profile like Carmel Cacopardo. I think it would a shame if they did not obtain a very respectable result.”
“You are speaking of a respectable result. How many MPs is AD expecting to elect to Parliament?”
“I think it is very difficult to predict. This is not a question of precise arithmetic, especially when one considers that AD can elect an MP without a quota in a lot of districts. No one can predict how the other’ parties surplus votes will be distributed.”
The question, he said, was how many surplus votes will they have and whether we have more votes than them or not when it comes to the last seat in every district.
“If one of the parties has 0.9% of a quota, we would need to obtain 0.9% of a quota and the third preference vote. However if the candidate which has most surplus has 0.4% of a quota, then it would be more probable, almost a certainty, that it would be AD that would elect the fifth MP from that district.
“What the circumstances will be in each of the 13 districts with regard to the final seat, I believe that not even the best mathematician could work that one out because the margin of error of the polls that are made is always around 5%,” Vassallo said.
Asked on what basis AD would form a coalition with the major parties represented in Parliament, Vassallo explained that this time around, AD has established a set of pre-established priorities for forming a coalition with one of the two main parties (AD have already excluded a coalition with far-right party Azzjoni Nazzjonali for ideological reasons).
“I think we have been clear with the electorate as well as with our colleagues in the other parties that we have published our priorities for a coalition.
“As everybody knows, we have an electoral manifesto which comprises more than 400 proposals. That was the electoral manifesto approved by the general conference for the past elections and is still valid today. Naturally it is being updated for this election.
“However to show which are things that are a priority for us, we published this document. There are six different chapters – the environment, the economy, housing, transport, the family, and democracy and civil rights. I think our proposals are clear for everybody to read,” Vassallo said.
In 2004 AD garnered 23,000 votes during the European Parliament elections. Asked whether he believed that they would vote AD as well in the forthcoming general elections, Vassallo was cautious in his reply.
“If only half of them voted for AD, then there would be more than 10,000 people who would have voted for AD. Our calculations show that that would be equivalent to four MPs.
“We do not even have the right to expect so many (votes). However, that nationwide result would change because in some districts we have much more support than in others. Looking at the candidates, you will see that the ninth and the tenth electoral districts are very important for us, the eleventh district is very important for us, the third district is very important for us as well.
“Everybody knows that we have made huge gains in Gozo; we have specific targets for the thirteenth district.
“However we will not ignore the other districts – as we have done in each election since 1992. We will contest in each electoral district so that every Maltese and Gozitan would be able to tell the other parties that he or she wants clean, honest and sincere politics by voting AD at every locality on the islands,” he said.
AD’s candidate list includes well-known politicians like Harry Vassallo himself, Arnold Cassola, Ralph Cassar, Mario Mallia, Edward Fenech and Victor Galea, and new faces like Christian Mizzi, Patrick Attard and (new for AD) Carmel Cacopardo.
Vassallo disagreed with criticism that AD was too oriented towards environmental issues like MEPA. “I think that your criticism is wrong, and I will explain why. Now the PN is also adopting the same line of thought now that the PM has declared that he will be taking over the responsibility for the environment,” he said. “Now the PN is promising to implement all our issues from top to bottom.”
Vassallo admits that the party had not managed to explain well, especially to the media, that AD’s focus on the environment is one which deals with the entire human existence.
“When we speak about asthma and health in the country – the fact that 35% of all children under 16 years of age in Malta and Gozo suffer from asthma or some form of allergy – is that an environmental issue only or is it also a health matter?
“When we speak about improving public transport, we are dealing with pollution, but we also speaking about the expense for each family which uses public transport or is obliged to have a private car, which means that a family has to spend the largest part of its budget on that car when that money can be saved.
“When we speak about energy and Malta’s shame in failing to invest in alternative energy for tens of years, are we speaking about the environmental issue or are we dealing with the individual expense of each family on the islands?
“We have a totally different perspective about each aspect of human life. Now people have started to understand this. We do not have to explain further because people have started to understand that our message affects them personally as well as financially, and is relevant for each Maltese family,” Vassallo said.
The AD leader was rather cynical about the PM’s decision to take MEPA reform under his own portfolio announced last Tuesday and whether that constituted a vote of no confidence in Minister for Rural Affairs and the Environment George Pullicino. “I don’t think that the Prime Minister had to give a vote of no confidence in George Pullicino because the whole country has done so,” Vassallo insisted.
“However it was a mechanism used by Niccolo’ Macchiavelli that you decapitate the general who would be implementing your policy so that you would then gain the support of the population. This is a standard that has been in place since the 14th century after Christ.
“As PM, Gonzi is responsible for Pullicino’s actions. He has to be extremely bare-faced to now say that a mistake might have been made when he extended the development zones in 2006, when he was PM and he had the ultimate responsibility. He has not even promised that he is going to reverse this decision which was made in violation of EU laws, and which constituted a sheer act of vandalism on Malta’s environment.
“The promise that he will spend €300 million and make miracles in the environment is a promise made by the same person who caused the damage. These things are unbelievable and have no credibility whatsoever,” Vassallo insisted.
Asked whether AD’s election proposals in favour of the upper middle class – like the tax incentives for people earning more than €70,000 – negatively affected the traditional image of AD as the party in favour of social justice, Vassallo defended the proposal.
“I think that it is important to say that in spite of all the statements that have been made, very few people declare more than that amount. If the tax rate is reduced, it will benefit a lot of persons who will declare their real income. “The advantage is that then the Government would have more money in its hands to help those who are really in need,” Vassallo explained.
Irrespective of the result of the March 8 general elections, AD would have to elect a new Chairperson immediately afterwards, and Vassallo confirmed that he will be calling it a day.
“I think it is a good thing that nobody stays too long in the leadership of political parties for too long. I believe I can be proud of my work for the benefit of the party.
“I have given 18 years of my life and during the time that I spent as party leader, I think that the party has moved forward,” he said.
“If we would have our Parliamentary Group, which I hope to participate in, and have a party which is totally separate from it, we would be giving an example of how politics should be conducted in Malta. There should be full separation between the party leader and its MPs in Parliament.
“If we manage to convince the other parties to behave likewise, maybe we will remove a lot of the one-person politics which has reached its climax during the PN’s electoral campaign with Prime Minister Gonzi growing so much that he overshadowed all his fellow ministers. This is not a campaign befitting the 21st Century.
“There are many valid persons in AD who have not been given their voice and public profile that they deserve due to the fact that there was little space in the media and often I had to speak as party leader.
“There are lot of valid people who can give a healthy contribution on a national level as much as I do and even more,” Vassallo said.
Only time will tell whether Vassallo’s predictions will become a reality or not.

czahra@mediatoday.com.mt