Alternattiva Demokratika elected two councillors in the last round of local elections held last Saturday. They are now represented in four localities, including Sliema and Sannat. AD were also close to electing a third councillor, but missed the boat in Munxar by only two votes, leading the party to consider calling for a recount, a claim that was withdrawn a day later.

The Green Party contested seven of the 22 localities where elections were held, and therefore a two-out-of-seven result is by all means an important outcome for them. Altogether they polled 2.2 per cent of the votes, but this takes into account the overall result in all 22 localities, so if one were to take only the seven localities where AD had a candidate, the percentage of votes garnered would be bigger.

At face value, these are good results for the team led by Harry Vassallo. But a deeper look into the issue would reveal that AD are still far from reaching out to the people as much as they would like to.

In an editorial published in January, this newspaper had commented that the next election will possibly make or break AD, which have never been in a better position to make their presence felt, considering the current political circumstances in the country. With a party that has been in government for the better part of 20 years and an opposition that still needs to convince the many undecided voters that it would be a better government, AD stand to gain a lot from the prevailing scenario.

Once again however, AD managed to do only so much and, although as said earlier, a two-out-of-seven result can be considered as good for a party that does not have the human and financial resources the two larger parties enjoy, last Saturday’s performance on the whole leaves things very much as they were before.

In other words, AD were expected to do better in an election that does not have the country’s future at stake. The Green Party should have perhaps picked up more of the protest-votes against the government, and yet many of the people in the localities contested by AD chose not to vote, rather than give their preference to the Green candidate.

It means that AD’s aim to win a parliamentary seat – a target that the party has set itself with Dr Vassallo saying he would resign if this is not achieved – is a hurdle that will be difficult to overcome. It is even harder considering that an AD candidate would need a few thousand votes in one district to be able to win that seat in Parliament.

To be fair, AD never said it was an easy matter to break the duopoly, but at the same time if the party is not capable of doing better than it did at local level – in elections where the country’s future is not being determined and where the possibility of people giving parties like AD a stronger backing is higher – then it will no doubt find the going even tougher when the national election is held.

It is one thing to win a seat on a local council, and a completely different matter to persuade thousands to give their preference to a Green Party candidate when Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi calls an election.

AD are right to say that there are many people who are tired of the way politics is done in Malta, but unless this feeling of unhappiness is translated into votes, and in this case votes for AD, then the Green Party’s efforts to bring out what they say is a new way of doing politics are not receiving the support the Greens expect.

This should in no way discourage AD from pursuing the target they set themselves. But, following last Saturday’s elections, even they must have realised that they need to work much harder not to let this chance slip away.