The amendments proposed by the Nationalist Party and the Malta Labour Party to amend the Constitution with regard to general elections are aimed at eliminating other political parties in Malta, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo said yesterday.

Dr Vassallo said the two main political parties in Malta have no interest in true democracy. He said that for the third time since 1987, the PN and MLP proposed to amend the Constitution in their interests, in defiance of political reality, in fear of democratic change and on the assumption that they can keep a stranglehold on Malta in this way.

“By amending the Constitution in order to secure strict proportionality of representation for themselves, they draw attention to the fact that they have deliberately neglected any form of proportionality of representation for anyone else,” Dr Vassallo said.

He said the parties continued the pre-1987 tradition – assuming that there will never be a third party in the Maltese political scene. The MLP, he said, “to add to its already scary democratic credentials” decided to propose these amendments. He said this is the same party that did not accept the results of the 1981 general election.

Dr Vassallo said the citizens of Malta are fed up of the two political parties and the way politics is done in Malta. AD, he said, with its 17 years of experience, can offer Malta and the Maltese something different and has already given evidence of the important contribution it can give if represented in parliament.

“The proposed amendment to the Constitution is irrefutable evidence of the detachment of both the political parties represented in parliament from the mood of the country. They seem unable to recognise that the largest segment of the electorate is made up of those who say they will not vote, those who don’t know who they will vote for and of people who say they will vote for Alternattiva Demokratika. More than 40 per cent of the population does not feel represented by its parliament,” Dr Vassallo said.

Dr Vassallo appealed to voters to ignore those who say that cross-party voting will invalidate the voting document. He urged people to vote for their party and then vote for AD. He said that a second preference vote for AD means that people will be supporting AD’s efforts for a truly democratic electoral system in Malta.

“We know we deserve to be in parliament and we also know that everybody else knows it,” he said.

Asked whether AD was involved in the discussions, Dr Vassallo said AD was the party that started the discussions. However, he said, towards the end, when the discussion reached the final phase, AD was deliberately left out.

Asked whether it was sabotage on AD, Dr Vassallo preferred to describe it as an attempt to eliminate other political parties in Malta.