Alternattiva Demokratika yesterday approved a motion to set up the party's first regional committee in Gozo, during its 15th annual general meeting held at the Preluna Hotel, Sliema.
AD chairman Harry Vassallo welcomed this move, saying the party had been working to have a presence in Gozo for the past few years.
"The committee, which will be launched in the coming days, will mean that Gozo will not be part of political tourism at election time, but a way of dealing with issues affecting Gozitans all the time," Dr Vassallo said.
During the meeting the party also approved the motion with the theme 'A Change for the Better', which calls on the party to start collecting signatures for a referendum to abrogate the country's anachronistic rent laws.
The meeting coincided with the 15th anniversary of the founding of AD and Dr Vassallo said it was "the party's hard-headedness" which had kept them going for 15 years.
He expressed his satisfaction that the party was celebrating its anniversary after breaking the mould of the two-party system in last June's European elections.
"Twenty-nine thousand voters have broken with the past by voting for a candidate of a third party after so many years voting for the lesser evil among the two other parties. This has endowed these voters with a new sense of freedom. They have relieved themselves of a burden which used to suffocate them," he said.
"We have succeeded in enabling a category of voters to exercise their political freedom by choosing freely, a category of voters who were able to dismiss partisan propaganda and spin. These voters will never again give up their newfound freedom to vote according to their conscience," he added.
AD was no longer a small party struggling to survive. It was now, he said, a crucial factor in the Maltese political landscape.
Dr Vassallo also referred to the unfair electoral law and the scandalous situation in the media.
"Our electoral system creates a distinction between two classes of parties. It favours the traditional parties and stifles emerging third parties. AD will not be discouraged," he said.