Independent candidate Arnold Cassola has urged those declaring that they will not vote to “rock the 57-year-old bi-party system” by voting for him and continuing their vote by voting for other third parties and independent candidates.
Talking to The Malta Independent on Sunday, Cassola said that he wants to strip the sixth MEP seat from the Labour Party or the Nationalist Party and achieve a 3-2-1 scenario in the next election.
The most recent Times of Malta and MaltaToday surveys, although different, seem to show a trend where the Labour Party is losing support, the Nationalist Party is not gaining much ground and non-voters are at an all-time high.
Focussing specifically on the Times of Malta survey, it showed that 6.2% of people said that they would vote for others besides PL or PN and 27.6% said they would not vote.
Asked whether these results gave him more hope that he might be elected during the MEP elections, he said: “It's the people who decide… Never in the history of independent Malta has there been 6%, 10 months before elections, of people saying they would vote for third parties or independent candidates.”
However, he said that this was still not enough and urged the non-voters to vote for him and then continue their vote by voting for other third parties such as ADPD and other independent candidates.
“The next MEP elections are not about Grech and Abela or who is going to be prime minister. It is about electing six individuals to the European Parliament. Voters have the power to keep the 4-2 status quo or else rock the 57-year-old bi-party system by making it 3-2-1.”
“The PN is never going to get the third seat. They can bluff their way in any way they want but it's not going to happen because of the sentiment there is of the Nationalists who were disappointed and the Nationalist mercenaries who turned to Labour.”
So close in 2004
The closest Cassola ever got to being elected as an MEP was in the 2004 elections where he was just shy of being elected to one of Malta’s five MEPs at the time. If Malta had six MEPs, like it has today, then he would have been elected.
In his political career, Cassola also acted as secretary general of the European Green Party between 1999-2006 and was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies between 2006-2008.
Besides putting a lot of pressure and scrutinising on the government, top political figures and big businesses, Cassola was asked whether he had anything else to offer if he had to be given a seat in the European Parliament.
He said that his main focus would be on the environment, social justice, good governance and transparency, “all things which are lacking in Malta”.
Throughout his political career, Cassola said that he has remained consistent. He mentioned how he has been offered positions within the public sector, both under a PN government and under a PL government, but he has always refused, to prevent any conflict of interest. “If I am there to scrutinise you I cannot be co-opted and [hold these positions.]”
If he had to be elected, Cassola said that he would have access to resources, expertise and a lot of finances. He added that he could use these funds on expert consultants or even to help fund court cases for any injustices taking place.
A nuisance to the government
Cassola has become known on social media for being a nuisance to the government and posting comments, multiple times a day, reporting and commenting on politics and capturing the dirty and congested streetscape of Malta.
A team of around nine people support Cassola and have worked to significantly improve his social media pages, he explained. Apart from also giving him ideas, he said that probably the most difficult job is trying to stop him from writing too impulsively and crudely.
Asked how he was able to be so active, he said that he gave up a full-time job in 2010 and instead opted for a 44% job at the university, which has a decreased pay and a lesser workload, so that he could keep abreast on politics and act immediately.
He was asked whether he thought his being impulsive could do more harm than good at times.
Cassola agreed with this point but said that this is why he has people to check what he is doing. However, he explained that at times the lack of context has to do with wanting to upload fast and also because of the word limit on Twitter which restricts him to short posts.
“Mistakes I have made, fortunately, I don't believe I make too many of these mistakes.” He said that if he makes a mistake he has no issue changing it and apologising. He also added that he has no issue giving the other side of the story and posting someone’s response.
Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was blown up for using her pen to fearlessly expose corruption, asked whether he has any fear, he firmly replied “No”.
“My motto is I prefer dying fighting than living as a slave under idiots.”
“I think I find it more degrading to be living a life under somebody's thumb, somebody who's conditioning your life with wrong decisions, not acting for the country's benefit and staying quiet because of fear. The more time passes the more I think one should speak, despite all the possibilities of risks there could be.”
With regard to the insults he receives online, he said he has developed “thick skin” and he just ignores these, however, when he receives death threats or comments encouraging suicide he reports them to the police.
Robert Abela: ‘Arrogant liar’
Diverting onto the topic of Malta’s Prime Minister, Cassola slammed him for having a lack of empathy and accused him of being an arrogant liar.
Cassola brought up how Abela attended a concert following the vote in Parliament when the government shot down the Jean Paul Sofia public inquiry, knowing full well he should have postponed the event. He also criticised Abela’s insensitive move to leave the country on his yacht two days after the vote while “arrogantly speeding” in the port and using his mobile phone.
When drawing a contrast between former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Abela, he said that the main difference is that Muscat is “intelligent”, unlike Abela. “The only problem is that he has directed his intelligence towards evil. Now we know that his intentions right from the beginning were to make money for people close to him.”
“Muscat is intelligent, he has a feeling for people; apart from the fact he is a good speaker, he is more charismatic compared to Abela. Abela is robotic, cold, more based on appearance. I think he actually believes his lies.”
However, Cassola said that Muscat’s declaration to call a public inquiry into Sofia’s case is what most likely influenced Abela to call the press conference where the government’s U-turn and called a public inquiry.
Cassola compared Abela to the author Alessandro Manzoni’s character Dr Azzeccagarbuli – “a lawyer who speaks in Latin but nobody understands him and everyone praises him for being intelligent because they don't understand him”.
When reciting his first interaction with Abela, Cassola said that it was in 2017 at the environment committee. Abela arrived 25 minutes late, took over and repeatedly interrupted discussions by quoting the standing orders.
After an hour Cassola went up to him and said: “Dr Abela stop ridiculing people and treating us like garbage.”
MPs could vote according to their conscience if the right people are in Parliament
In light of all the issues Cassola brought up, he was asked whether there will ever be a change under this government and whether a third party or independent candidate in Parliament would make much of a difference.
Initially, when responding he made it clear that the first step has to be the MEP and local council elections, which will then be able to bring about change in the national election in four years’ time.
“The numbers will not change with one or two extra opposition. But when you have people who really have the environment at heart and who really go to speak with facts and figures, scientifically proven, it is much better than having these people who are always saying ‘We are going to let the institutions work’… We have a Parliament of parrots.”
“You are going to get more intelligent well-reasoned persons bringing up these arguments, rather than these speeches that are aimed at the locality's band club, the local feast.”
During the Sofia votes, although the government unanimously shot down the public inquiry, there were reports of a division where not all government MPs were happy with Abela’s position. With that in mind, Cassola said that with the right people in Parliament, there might be a situation where some MPs might “pluck up the courage and start voting according to their conscience on issues”.
Considering Malta has been suffering a number of frequent and long power cuts over the last two weeks, Cassola said that it is only now, because of all the power cuts, people are starting to question the current government.
“The big change will be when we get the big crisis, a big economic crisis… Unfortunately, life shows you that in order to change a philosophy you normally need a big tragedy.”
Breaking the ‘to seem’ society
Cassola was asked whether any of the issues brought up were even salvageable. He regrettably answered by saying that some of the damage is permanent.
“Restoring values and principles is the most important thing. Muscat's biggest success is that he managed to destroy all sense of values by introducing money as the only value in life; that you are somebody only if you are a net worth talented person.”
Cassola expressed his disgust for the falseness of Abela and Muscat who have both created a “to seem society, where everybody seems… the hypocrisy, the double face, I cannot stand it. Today we are starting to see the falseness in many issues”.
Cassola made reference to sociologist and philosopher Eric Fromm who said that the Western world has passed from the to be to the to have.
“You are no longer judged on what you are but on what you have. I believe that Malta has reached a stage where now we are not even to have, it’s to seem. The importance is that you seem.”
Abela and Muscat are only interested in the trickle-down effect, Cassola said. “Let's make the rich richer because the more richness there is the more money will spill over for others, the crumbs relatively.” On the contrary, Cassola said that the philosophy should be inverted – give importance and take measures for those near the poverty level.