My phone has turned red hot with Greens calling from all over the island. They are fuming about the outrageous amendments to the Local Council Act proposed to be brewed by the PN and the MLP. Many of them have been shocked to find that I am delighted by this development.

It is sheer fanta-politics. The PN and MLP have decided between them, and without consulting any other interested party, that from the next local council election due in March 2005, mayors will be elected by what they have described as the popular vote. On the face of it, it seems to make sense that the most popular candidate in the most popular party should be mayor. In reality it makes sense only when his or her party enjoys an absolute majority in the council.

When no party enjoys the support of an absolute majority, the PN-MLP amendments would produce a mayor from the party with a relative majority dooming him or her to be in a minority in the council throughout his or her tenure. It is a recipe for mayhem or unnecessary conflict. It will be the law that chooses the council’s leader, not the council itself.

It is a delegitimation of mayors. Imagine a situation where three parties have an almost equal level of support. A party with 34 per cent of the vote will be obliged to produce a mayor from its midst to face the onslaught of a disenfranchised 66 per cent. It will not be fun.

My experience as a councillor on the Sliema local council from 1994 taught me that nothing is simply mathematical in politics. Out of nine councillors the one to have polled most votes was Alfred Cachia, an independent in the absence of the MLP in that election. He asked for and obtained my vote in the first round of votes in the mayor’s election.

It was gesture of respect for the most popular local politician in our town. We both knew that he had not a hope of being elected mayor in a council dominated by a 2/3 PN majority. In the second round I voted for Gloria Mizzi: it seemed like a good idea to have a feisty woman for a mayor. The result was a 4-1-4 stalemate which left Mrs Mizzi rather embarrassed to be under suspicion of having failed to honour her commitment in the intra-PN contest for the leadership. She had only my vote to her name. I was stunned to realize that in a minority of one out of nine councillors, my vote would sway the issue.

In the next round I voted for Robert Arrigo and against Melvyn Mifsud, who had committed the error of letting his nerves get the better of him, when he insisted that the first item in the first minutes of the first ever council in my home town should record the fact that I had arrived a little late for the meeting. I had taken my time knowing that no substantial business would be decided and that I had almost no say in the choice of mayor. Perhaps Melvyn was right to be anxious. He made a mistake to let it show.

The result of all this was a three year battle between the PN protagonists which left the mayor needing the support of the independents and the Green. The intra-PN rivalry actually worked to set the scene for inter-party cooperation at council level in Sliema. The minority were all glad to participate and do their job.

The new amendments will take all this away. They will also produce a number of mayors who will be unable to do their jobs since they will not enjoy the confidence of a majority of councillors. Where more than two parties are represented on the council an absolute majority of the votes in decision making will be permanently against a mayor imposed on them by law.

I have welcomed this move because it exposes the PN-MLP fear of multiparty politics. They will have to learn the hard way. It appears that they have assumed that where a Green holds the balance of power he or she will necessarily snap up the mayor’s post. It is political nonsense. A mayor in a minority of one will only sit if he or she enjoys the support of a majority in comfort. In most cases, Green candidates in the March election who appear likely to be in such a position would opt to support a mayor from another party, insisting that inter party cooperation all round is achieved. With the new amendments the minority mayors will be on a fantastic learning curve in politics. They will learn what Greens have always known: how to work with others.

The amendments are designed to avoid the possibility of any locality electing any Green or independent mayor for a very long time to come. It speaks of the fear of change which has possessed the other two parties. It is simply shameful.

The proposal is pure PN. Labour have lapped it up. Greens could not ask for more. The PN leadership has come out in the open and revealed that it prefers conceding to Labour than allowing the Greens to get a foothold anywhere: better Red than Green. Labour does not mind.

Nothing could be better to convince Nationalist grassroots of the detachment between their preferences and those of their leadership. Until now it has been hard to persuade Nationalists that the block vote imposed from PN HQ has proved to be counter-productive. In several local councils and with absolute clarity in the EP elections, the regimentation of Nationalists persuaded not to give any preference vote at all to any other party, has worked to the advantage of their supposed arch-rivals time and again.Surplus PN votes which did not transfer to Arnold Cassola once the eighth and last PN candidate was eliminated, effectively allowed a third MLP MEP to be elected. It was a result very few PN voters would have preferred yet it was the result engineered by the PN block vote organised by the PN leadership. It is very clear that the PN leadership would rather have an MLP win than any Green gain.

The current amendments are simply to the prejudice of the Greens. They are a sign of panic by the PN. I am sure that the MLP is delighted to find such plums falling straight into its mouth. This time they will not oppose the PN proposal.

It is there for everyone to see. Joe Saliba’s party has forgotten all about democratic sensibilites and simple common sense. He has opted for eliminating Greens at all costs. A Green mayor, God forbid.

It is not what the electorate thinks. Ordinary people whether blue or red would have no objection to having a Green mayor once their own party could not produce one that could enjoy majority support. The Joe Salibas of this world do not care what people think or prefer. The Green menace must be eliminated.

It is far too late. Greens are here to stay. After what we have been through we will not give up now. This sort of nonsense only renews our determination. Raise the hurdles, we will just jump higher. We have gained critical mass and block voting and all sorts of cheating will not help. We will get elected, we will do our part regardless of all obstacles. Our rivals are in a state of panic and we are laughing. Our giant rivals are running scared and showing it. Could we ask for more?

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