The day after the elections

For the first time since the people got rid of the Mintoff regime and its followers in 1987 you can be proud of the Maltese electorate. It is not important how many votes were cast in favour of the MLP or the PN. It is also not important, although it would be even better for the development, whether Arnold Cassola made it to the European Parliament.

But what is absolutely remarkable is the fact that a third party has managed to obtain a two-digit percentage of cast votes.

Alternattiva Demokratika is the winner of this election! Practically this party came from one per cent to 10 per cent. It won by 1,000 per cent. And this is what makes the winner of an election. By democratic measures the winner of an election is the party which has managed to improve best from its last result. And so it is not the MLP, but AD.

With such a good result they have proven their ambitions and also just the right to be there and to play a role in the Maltese political theatre. Malta is on the right track to gain a healthier democracy. With a third force coming up the democratisation of the country continues.

The next step now would be to change the voting system. As it is now, the two big parties make it almost impossible for smaller parties like AD to enter Parliament. With the current system the MLP and PN assure their power for the future. And on this there is total agreement between the Conservatives (PN) and the Socialists (MLP) as I like to call them.

Some people now say that the votes for AD were lost votes and because of that the MLP gained the majority over the PN. This is absolutely stupid. Those votes are not lost. Those votes are the most worthy votes of this election. People have to move over to a multiple party thinking. Forget about a two-party system! And once again I would like to emphasise that the Maltese democracy has to get healthier and that with more parties this can be possible.

These elections to the European Parliament have sent out the right signals to all the governments of EU countries. All governments of EU countries, except Greece and Spain, have lost in these elections; so they have in Malta. The European electorate gave a clear signal with this, and the message is: Change your politics, government!

People all across Europe are not satisfied with their governments. This was first shown in the national elections in Spain and continued now.

For one reason, taking the UK and Poland as two prime examples, the citizens do not agree with their government's Iraq policy. Neither the British nor the Polish public wanted the war in Iraq. And so their government got the bill for ignoring the people's will.

Another reason, taking Germany and Malta as prime examples, is the bad work of the national governments when it comes to boosting the economy, creating jobs or reducing the deficit.

So these elections served their purpose. They sent signals to the governments without throwing them out of power, meaning giving them a second chance.

But don't risk it! There will soon be national general elections again! And the electorate might then vote again like this weekend.