Another round of local council elections will be held on Saturday and, although the results are relative as they cover only one-third of the population, the political parties will no doubt be taking stock of the results, interpret them in the way that suits them most and continue with their work.

Alternattiva Demokratika will once again be taking part in the elections, fielding six candidates. This political group will therefore be vying to elect a councillor in less than one-third of the places where elections will be held, a total of 21. They should have been 23 in all, but there will be no elections in Zejtun and Marsa after the Nationalist Party withdrew two candidates from each locality and brought down the number of candidates to the exact number of councillors needed.

It might be a disadvantage for Alternattiva to field candidates in just six localities. This is because people who want to vote for AD but have no AD candidate to vote for in their locality will either choose another party or not turn up at all.

But on the other hand, as AD chairperson Harry Vassallo explained in an interview with this newspaper last Saturday, AD cannot turn to every Tom, Dick or Harry just to have someone representing them in all localities. “We would like to cover all the bases but we will not just fill in the gaps. We need candidates that can build on our reputation,” he said.

The fact that results are taken overall – and not just in localities contested – will mean that AD’s results, in the words of Dr Vassallo, will be “massively diluted”. Taking just the six localities where AD will be contesting, the percentage obtained by AD will obviously be much higher than the general figure over 21 localities.

Still, this should not be discouraging to a party that over the years has found its own position in the political field. Only last year, it garnered 9.3 per cent, or 22,000 votes, in the European Parliament election. Although many interpreted this as a protest vote against the Nationalist government, it also shows that AD is seen by many as a credible organisation.

One important point that Dr Vassallo spoke about was a possible coalition with another party. This coalition was apparently very close to being set up with the PN before the referendum on the European Union two years ago, but the two sides drifted apart, although AD still was among 31 organisations who supported Malta’s bid to join the EU.

In his reply to a specific question on forming a coalition, Dr Vassallo said that alliances will be made as and when necessary, adding that AD is not a political party aimed at taking a majority. “Both other parties need to have over 50 per cent to exist. We do not want anyone to have over 50 per cent and this would lead everyone having to discuss things”.

This is an interesting reply because it also shows the important role that AD play today in politics. Neither of the two bigger political parties can ignore the presence of AD, because it could be the lever that pushes an election one side or the other. We have already seen this happening last year in the EP election.

The PN, in a sense, has more to lose because more Nationalists would be inclined to vote for AD than Labourites. The more so in local council elections or, as happened, in the EP election.

We still have to see this happen in a general election, but there is a possibility that what took place in June last year is repeated again, both at local council level and, more importantly, at national level.

Trends are changing in this country of ours. AD is only a political minority, but its strength is bigger than the amount of votes it obtains are perceived to be.