In an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday, Sandra Gauci said that small parties should try to take advantage of the shortcomings of the two major parties to make inroads into the duopoly that has characterised Maltese politics for more than half a century.

Gauci, who is earmarked to take over the leadership of the ADPD-The Green Party in the coming weeks, said that the prevailing situation provides a splendid chance for the smaller parties to gain credibility and prove their worth.

Over many years, small parties have done their utmost to break the grasp that the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party have on the local system. Very often, they have the best arguments; maybe it's because they have no strings attached and can speak their mind freely. Very often, they have taken important stands that the bigger parties shy away from, because they are afraid of losing votes. Hunting is just one of the examples of this.

The Green Party is, at present, the longest standing of these small parties. For more than three decades, first as Alternattiva Demokratika and, more recently, as ADPD after the merge with the Partit Demokratiku, it has given a voice to those who have lost hope in the PL and the PN.

But, as we have seen in the last election, there are many voters who prefer not to express a preference rather than give their vote to a small party such as ADPD. In March 2022, one out of every seven voters chose not to turn up at the polling booth. If those 50,000 voters who renounced their right to vote had given a Number One to an APDP candidate, the outcome of the election would have been very different.

As things stand now, in spite of all its efforts, ADPD has not gained the support it requires to have a seat in Parliament. There were times, since Independence, that small parties had an MP in the House, but this happened when either a sitting MP left the party for which he was elected (Wenzu Mintoff), or because the small party linked itself with another (Marlene Farrugia and Godfrey Farrugia).

To be fair, the way our electoral system works makes it all the more difficult for small parties to emerge. If Malta had to be one electoral district, as happens in an MEP election, the chances would be higher. In 2004, for example, Arnold Cassola, then representing AD, had come close to making is as a Maltese MEP.

One also has to consider that small parties - and ADPD is the biggest of the ones we have - have extremely limited resources. They have no TV or radio station of their own, and the national station gives them little space. The independent media does better in this sense, although the small parties say they would like to have more.

Still, it must be said that small parties must continue to speak out, mentioning issues that the bigger parties try to avoid and, most of all, share their views on matters of national interest without having to balance things out or find a compromise.

Their voice is important.