If there is something that the two major political parties tacitly seem to agree upon is the fact that a two-party state suits their exigencies and that it helps to maintain the status quo at the expense of any third forces that have emerged or would like to emerge.
Both the Nationalist Party and the Malta Labour Party – and their media – try hard to play down what Alternattiva Demokratika has been doing over the years. In many instances, their activities are completely ignored, unless of course they stand to gain something from them.
The most obvious case in this regard was AD’s push for European Union membership, a fact the Nationalist Party used in the months before the referendum in March 2003 to garner as much support as possible for a “Yes” vote.
Alternattiva Demokratika is nearing its second decade of existence. The party was launched soon after the 1987 election by a group of disgruntled members coming from the PN and MLP ranks, and it quickly built a reputation of speaking freely on matters of national concern, praising what there was to praise (on a few occasions, that is) and criticising what had to criticised.
It grew from a pressure group into a political force, and started contesting elections, both on a national level and later at local council level. And this in spite of losing – in later years – some of its most popular personalities, who either returned to the party they originated from or moved away from politics altogether to enter the media.
The party has however failed to make the leap it has wanted to make since it was founded. Alternattiva has yet to win a seat in Parliament via an election, and although each time the expectations are high, its popularity among the electorate in a national election has never been enough to reach the necessary quota.
Alternattiva has achieved some breakthroughs in the sense that it has won a few seats in local councils. The closest it ever came to achieving “national status” was in the poll to elect Malta’s representatives in the European Parliament, with AD’s man Arnold Cassola being the last to be eliminated in the battle for the five places.
It is evident that whereas electors are prepared to give AD their first preference in local council elections and in the EP election – that is in polls that do not determine the government – people are less likely to vote for AD candidates when it comes to forming a legislature.
The coming election will be the fifth that AD will be contesting, and since its participation in national elections started in 1992, national support has been dwindling. In 1992, AD obtained 1.7 per cent of the vote, which slightly fell to 1.5 per cent in 1996, continued to drop to 1.2 per cent in 1998 and plummeted to 0.7 per cent in 2003.
As the country gears up for another election – in late 2007 or in the first half of 2008 – one of the many questions that are being asked is about AD’s relevance in the local political scenario. Will they halt the slide and establish themselves as a bigger force, or will they continue to lose the little support they have garnered in their 17 years of existence?
More importantly, will they finally elect a representative in Parliament, a breakthrough that would give AD a much stronger voice and give it the energy to continue its fight?
AD chairman Harry Vassallo was recently quoted as having said that he would resign if AD did not elect four MPs. Not one, but four!
Dr Vassallo might have said this to push the party to work even harder towards a goal that, as things are now, is highly improbable. But, in all likelihood, it is Dr Vassallo himself who seems to have lost hope.