Yesterday the PN closed the door to an electoral coalition with Alternattiva Demokratika with the aim of trying to defeat a government dominated by political delinquents of the calibre of Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri and Brian Tonna, unfortunately protected and defended by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat for the past thirteen months and more.
Unlike the impression conveyed on Facebook by certain know-it-all commentators, who should know better, the agreement to have coalition talks was not a last minute decision, but was decided nearly three months ago. In fact, on 13 February, a first meeting was held between Carmel Cacopardo and Mario de Marco, when both parts expressed their concerns and desiderata. It was agreed that Mario de Marco would refer to his colleagues and the PN would come back to us.
The end of February passed by; we then entered the Spring season on 21 March, Good Friday and Easter in April …and PN never came back to us. Then, on Monday 24th April, over two months after the first talks, the PN finally came back to us and a meeting was fixed for Friday 28th April at 1.30pm.
Knowing that the country has precipitated to the pits because of the Panama gang and their antics, we at AD –as always in our history- were adamant in putting country before party. We therefore prepared very well for the meeting, not only by drawing up a declaration of principles of around 25 basic points on which the coalition should agree, but also a regular statute in line with the law for political parties, which provided for the establishment of a new coalition comprising PN, AD and PD, just to have a common list for the upcoming elections. The parties would then revert to their present respective statuses after the elections.
Despite knowing what our main preoccupation was, on the eve of the meeting we were in for a little surprise: PN and PD announced that they had reached an agreement and that they would be all contesting under the PN name and logo. On Friday, before our meeting, PN and PD held a press conference to explain their agreement.
On Friday at 1.30pm we met. Drs Busuttil, De Marco and Karol Aquilina were quite surprised that we had come up with this eight page detailed document. Indeed, they were even more pleasantly surprised when they discovered that the 25 point common declaration of principles were possibilities of common ground.
We then explained why we would not accept contesting on a PN list. The first reason is that the name of the list should reflect the plurality and diversity of the three parties making it up in order to attract voters with diverse ideas.
Secondly, each party had to assume responsibility for its political behaviour, past and present. We were not prepared to assume responsibility for the various accusations of misbehaviour a number of PN politicians are being charged with.
But the most important reason is that, as the polls clearly show today, the votes of PN, PD, AD and switchers put together are not enough to surpass those of Muscat and his Panamagang. A winning coalition list must attract the votes of those many honest Labourites who are disgusted with Muscat’s behaviour and want to see him and his gang go. Many of these voters would simply never bring themselves to vote for a PN list. That is why we were insisting on a list with a different name in order to show these PL voters that the coalition was a natural choice for them.
After this, Cacopardo and de Marco had another meeting on Friday afternoon. De Marco was to consult with his executive colleagues and get back. Saturday passed by. No contact. We at AD held our executive meeting and the executive mandated the AD negotiators Cassola, Cacopardo, Cassar and Mallia with the political direction to take.
Sunday morning arrived, but still no contact. On Sunday morning, I phoned Dr Busuttil before his Sunday talk. He did not pick up the phone.
I therefore sent him the following SMS: “Simon, you have not answered my call. You have seen the polls. Switchers, PN, AD, PD votes not enough .... Labour votes disgusted with Muscat’s behaviour are needed if we want to have a chance of winning. We need these Labour voters...and they will never vote a PN list with PN name and logo. Do you want to attract the extra voters or keep Muscat and co. in govt? Please get back to me asap with your decision. Arnold”.
It was only seven hours later, at 5pm. that Dr Busuttil phoned back. He had only just seen my message. We talked over the phone. I explained to him how, as opposed to an exclusive PN list, it was necessary to have a name for the list which would be inclusive and make people of all political backgrounds, including the many honest labourites, feel comfortable when voting for it. Dr Busuttil promised to refer to his colleagues in a meeting he would have on Monday morning.
Yesterday afternoon, around 2.30pm., Dr de Marco phoned Carmel Cacopardo, with a proposal which though unacceptable was a slight improvement on the PN position. The two were to refer to their respective parties. At the same time, however, it seems that a PN press release was already being drafted, saying that PN cannot offer AD an agreement which differs from what was offered to PD.
It was not very nice to learn from the newspapers, at about 3.30pm, of this decision.
It is a pity that the PN has not been able to put country before party. Simon Busuttil and the PN will carry full responsibility for giving Joseph Muscat and his three political delinquents, Konrad, Keith and Tonna, the possibility to go for a further five years in government.
As for us at AD we shall, as always, continue putting the interests of our country before that of our party.