Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson Arnold Cassola expressed satisfaction over the fact that AD councillor Ralph Cassar will highly likely retain his post in the Attard council while stating that his party witnessed an increase in votes in four out of the eight localities it contested.
Addressing journalists at the counting hall, Prof Cassola said that some may think that AD is irrelevant but we have witnessed an increase in votes in Qormi, St Julians, St Paul’s Bay and Attard.
He said that in Zebbug – which is synonymous with hunters – AD garnered over 200 votes. The problem withstanding, he said, is that we did not contest on all the 34 localities, encouraging others to join his party.
The increase is a slight one in three of the localities however Prof Cassola said his party is not irrelevant, when asked.
“We always stuck to our principles for 25 years since our inception, we never changed tack,” he said.
If Mr Cassar is elected, it would be his fourth time.
Prof Cassola said that his party – a week ago – was the only party to mobilise people to vote No in the referendum. The other two parties mobilised voters to vote yes.
He said that the local councils need more financing so that they do not die a slow death. He called on the government to give a percentage of revenue to local councils so that the councils can do their job.
Asked whether he feels AD should have garnered more votes when many voters voted no in the referendum, he said that a number of localities AD contested are ones which are also synonymous with hunters and therefore one could not expect better results on this count since the majority voted Yes in the referendum in such localities.