With European Parliament elections on Saturday, Alternattiva Demokratika's chairman Harry Vassallo tells Ariadne Massa in a wide-ranging interview that he hopes the electorate will make this election an important watershed and leave old-style politics behind once and for all.

Recent surveys show that AD seems to be attracting more Nationalist voters than Labour. What do you think led to this?

I think that conclusion is based on a very bold interpretation of the results of the last election where we had made a very great effort to shed votes in favour of the Nationalist Party. Our supporters are now free to express themselves in our favour. Basically we are now getting part of what we would consider out natural support. And if we had an even playing field in broadcasting this support would be much bigger.

Why do you think that Labour supporters are less willing to vote AD, while the Nationalists consider you an alternative?

I think there are many things in the balance. First there have been a number of historical incidents which have given us a Nationalist government far beyond its term. Clearly voters who are neither Nationalist nor Labour consider they have no alternative. Or consider us a better alternative.

In the European Parliament, the Greens are more aligned to the Socialists, while in Malta AD is more aligned to the PN in terms of policies. How do you view this situation?

Politics is topsy-turvy in Malta. There isn't a Nationalist Party anywhere in Europe, because it sounds like the name of a fascist party. Ironically, it was the conservative, Nationalist party which took us into Europe. Normally it should have been a Socialist or a left party promoting membership. There is a very wide overlap between the Labour and Nationalist parties.

On the issue of Greens, do you think that the word 'Green' can be a bit limiting in the sense that people tend to associate it solely with the environment. What can AD do in the EP?

I think Greens everywhere have this hurdle to overcome. We evidently hold the environment as a major priority and we look at the world through green spectacles. That means the whole of reality - economic, social and cultural - is linked to the foundations. All the other parties have traditions which are based on ignoring the fundamental realities around them. On the other hand the Greens have realised that we have to take care of our environment to survive. So we are bringing into mainstream politics, values which other parties are now taking on. For instance the EPP has in its manifesto the concept of the polluter-pays-principle. Clearly it is a victory for any Green party to be able to claim that it has managed to put green values on the agenda of other parties.

You mention the polluter-pays-principle. In the past days the PN has been saying that the Greens in Europe are proposing a tourism tax which would be detrimental to the island. Can you explain?

It was the PN itself which first introduced taxation on tourism. Before 1995 the tourism sector in Malta had virtually no tax burden. Since then it's been heavily taxed. The PN has imposed taxes on tourism which don't exist anywhere else and which are against European law, especially on outgoing tourism. We will be fighting to eliminate them. Tourist operators would be in favour of the Greens' attitude where any taxes paid by the tourism sector would be reinvested in, say, the environment, which they recognise to be the basis of their future. This is the same for any eco-tax being promoted by the Greens in the EP, which would be a tax across the board equally affecting any competing destinations, so as not to reduce the volume of tourism arrivals to Malta.

In the last general election AD was confident that it would have a representative elected to Parliament, but this changed in the last minute when the PN started advising the electorate not to "waste" their vote. Do you think the PN is playing dirty in these elections for the second time running?

I think in this campaign we are seeing the tail end of old-style politics. We hope the electorate will make this election an important watershed and we will leave old-style politics behind. The level of mud-slinging and fabrication of spins that has gone on is disappointing, especially from a party which has and holds parallel policies on many issues. Maybe it is precisely because of this that the PN has felt it is unable to compete directly with AD and felt the need to have a campaign which is more focused on fabrications than actual content. We hope that Arnold Cassola's success will mean that politics will take a step forward and we'll be able to discuss issues rather than exchange insults.

Talking about mud-slinging, AD had accused the PN of a whispering campaign when it claimed that AD was in favour of abortion, in line with the Greens' policies on this issue. Can you clarify what AD's stand on abortion is?

I think it was very disappointing for the PN that the whole abortion issue backfired so badly. First of all it gave AD the opportunity to show that it stands up for its principles in Malta and abroad, over a considerable period of time. We were able to display our credentials on this issue in a dramatic manner thanks to the smear campaign of the PN. The Greens gave us the opportunity to state our principles openly. We are and have always been against abortion.

Do you agree on most of the Green policies or are there areas of disagreement?

I am delighted to be part of the Greens. We are co-founders of the European Federation of Green Parties, and we have long enjoyed a very good standing among the members of the organisation, which represents eight million people. Arnold Cassola has also been chosen for the prestigious post of secretary general twice.

Do you think the electorate understands what they're voting about?

Yes, I think the Maltese voters are very shrewd. I have every respect for them and believe they are quite capable of seeing through the election campaign carnivals.

Mentioning campaign carnivals, recent surveys are predicting that the turnout for these elections will be lower than usual. Do you think the electorate is fed up with politics?

This time round the main issue is that there is no government at stake. The Maltese have also been sick of politics for a very long time and they have suffered blackmail during election time when everything is do or die. It would be no surprise if a number of people opt to relax and stay at home.

People keep saying they believe in AD but when it comes to cast their vote they feel uneasy and have second thoughts. How does AD feel about this?

There is nothing to feel uneasy about. In general elections there is a whole sky-is-falling-sensation, in this election there's none. I don't think that those voting for us now will feel uneasy, on the contrary I think they will be glad to express themselves freely, maybe for the first time in many years.

What have been your major frustrations in your tenure as chairman?

It has to be the lack of democracy in this country. I think this country is craving political evolution. I don't think that you can call a two-party system pluralism, unless you are being completely legalistic. I don't think we have anything like pluralism, not even in broadcasting.

Has that been a handicap for AD?

Yes, but we have faced it consistently and we will definitely overcome it. We have not been able to reach our audience as well as we would have liked to. It's beyond my comprehension why the Constitution, which insists on balance in broadcasting on all the media, has been consistently ignored by the Broadcasting Authority for several years.

On a different subject, there were some people who said that had you stood for the MEP elections, they would have most certainly voted AD. What do you think of this comment? Did you ever contemplate standing?

We want to be fair to voters and give them a real option. Voting for Arnold Cassola is not just a question of topping up the votes for the Green party, it's a matter of electing a respectable representative in the EP and to make that possible there had to be one candidate. Arnold is very evidently the most qualified to contest the election for the Greens. He stands head and shoulders above the competition. He is the only candidate who can claim significant experience in the field and he has the advantage that I enjoyed in the last election of having a whole party supporting him in every possible way. We are all doing our utmost and we are very enthusiastic.

If Arnold Cassola does get elected, do you think it's because the people are finally changing? And do you think this could translate into having someone elected in the next general elections?

I think people have changed considerably. I think political stagnation has prevented a full expression of Maltese society. I think the old-fashioned campaigning we have seen in these elections is completely detached from our social reality. The support we hope to have in this election will reflect the development in our society in spite of the determined attempts by the other parties to preserve an old-fashioned form of politics. We also hope this would mean we would, eventually, be able to give Malta not just a different representation in Parliament, but also a completely different dialogue. If we do ever get into Parliament it's something we can promise - to move the country from the politics of confrontation to politics of consensus.

AD has been established for more than a decade and there are many who believe in the party. Don't you find it frustrating that you never make it to Parliament? Is AD contemplating its future or will it still fight on in the hope that one day it will get there?

There can be no doubt about it. I took over the leadership of the party in 1999, which seemed to be a very bleak moment. But at the annual general meeting then, AD decided that it was still undefeated in its ideas and wanted to continue serving the country. Its progress since then has been phenomenal. We were offered a seat in parliament in the last election campaign, which we turned down because we have fundamental democratic principles - we want to go to parliament with votes, not to be sponsored by anybody else.

AD's progress is the result of the country's political development. The country is craving change and we have the credentials to provide a positive change. So the message we started out with 15 years ago has now reached the ears of a vast swath of the population.

So AD will continue soldiering on?

There's no question about it. It's only when we are defeated in our ideas that we can ever contemplate giving up.