Independent candidate Arnold Cassola said that the electoral campaign which just concluded was just the beginning, as he lauded “an encouraging wave of new politics spread across these islands” after this weekend’s electoral result.
Cassola won 12,706 first-count votes, the third highest out of any candidate, in the European Parliament elections which were counted out on Sunday.
He was ultimately the penultimate candidate to be eliminated, at the 34th count, at which point he had 22,941 votes to his name.
It is the best performance for an independent candidate on record, although it doesn’t quite reach the heights that Cassola himself reached in the 2004 European Parliament election when he was AD leader.
“These last few weeks have been a great experience for all of us. We are all extremely proud of this result,” he wrote on Facebook on Sunday night when it became apparent that he had not been elected.
“We have seen an encouraging wave of new politics spread across these islands. A wave of hope, determination and energy that’s a sign of what’s to come,” he said.
“There’s an emerging sense of optimism and appetite for a new chapter in Maltese politics. A wish for a modern, just and prosperous Malta. We have an emerging generation of voters who want to give voice to a fresh democratic future that goes away from tribalism and moves toward a more dynamic and functional society where reason and merit drive the agenda, where decisions are taken in the best interests of the nation and its citizens,” he continued.
He said that this emerging generation of voters wanted a future “that champions the environment” and a future “that champions justice and freedom of choice.”
Cassola thanked those who found the courage to vote for this “new wave of change” and said that “this was just the beginning.”
“Let’s keep moving forward with the same optimism and unity that brought us here in the first place,” he concluded.