Picking a target

It is amazing that with all their troubles on show the PN and its entourage have dedicated so much time in the media to the local election results of Alternattiva Demokratika. Labour is celebrating very much as it did after the European Parliament election. In 2004 it polled 14,000 votes fewer than in 2003 and felt it had reason to celebrate. The dramatically lower turnout in the 2006 elections does not fully account for the drop in support in some areas and bombastic celebrations make very little sense.

For the PN it makes less sense to be seen smiling. There comes a point where putting a brave face on things becomes irritating. A little chest-beating would be far more appropriate. Instead the PN has indulged in AD-bashing.

The Greens never carcade. It is simply not our style. Gaining the first preference of every 10th voter in Sliema should be cause enough. Michael Briguglio would have been given a raucous celebration to enjoy had he belonged to any other political party. He was simply sent back to work for Sliema for another three years.

Ironically he faces the leopard spot reaction of congratulations in Sliema and commiseration everywhere else. The publication of the election results show a nationwide result for AD at 1.7 per cent. Few people take the time to make out that it is arrived at by averaging out results across all the 23 separate elections that took place regardless of the fact that we only had candidates in five of these elections. It suits both the other parties to create the impression that that the Greens are much smaller than they really are. The PN in particular feels the need to keep up its assault as a smokescreen covering its rout at the polls.

The Greens did well in the local council elections. We could have done much better. The big difference between our analysis of the results and that of the other political parties is that we realise that these were local elections. We have never committed the folly of using them as a nationwide poll.

In every locality where we contested we have brought the other two political parties below the 50 per cent mark. It is ominous for them and they know it. They also know far better than the casual readers of newspapers that we can do far better than that. Nowhere in the localities we contested, not in the ones where we elected our candidates nor in the ones where we did not, did we have a campaign presence to match theirs. They know that if we ever get close to that level in any election, the results will be earthshaking.

Gozo has suffered a political earthquake. Ta' Sannat has always been a forlorn hope for the Greens. When we contested in the past it was with the indomitable spirit of a party that can face an announced defeat. This time we drove through all the barriers and ended up with our candidate a councillor. What happened?

Ta' Sannat has a 16.6 per cent threshold, one as high as that maintained for general elections. We made it anyway. There was much more: in Ta' Sannat we faced more than our usual political rivals. We faced a developer with many millions of liri at stake in a proposed development that could spring a new town on this little village. Many people at Ta' Sannat are employed by the developer. He held meetings for his staff referring specifically to counter the contestation of his plans by the Greens. In a meeting with me he boasted that the Greens would not find candidates in Gozo.

We found one in his own backyard and today he sits on the Ta' Sannat local council. The significance on this Green victory goes far beyond the boundaries of this one Gozitan victory. It is an alarm bell for all developers claiming an influence on the fate of politicians. All other politicians especially in Gozo can take this change to gain more freedom from their sponsors and those who threaten them with elimination if they dissent. Above that, it gives every other Gozitan locality a new hope. If it is possible in Ta' Sannat it is possible everywhere. John Mizzi met everyone in his village, he matched and outdid his rivals in energy.

Birkirkara was a tragedy. With another 20 votes we could have elected our candidate. It would have been a signal victory. It brought the other two parties under the 50 per cent mark in any case but election would have left David Darmanin sitting between six Labour and six Nationalist councillors. It would have sent shockwaves far beyond Birkirkara.

Mario Mallia, who served on the Birkirkara council for the previous three years, has just taken heavier professional responsibilities as a headmaster with a transfer of his school to new premises in the offing. He could not possibly continue on the local council. There can be little doubt that he could count on significantly greater support than Mr Darmanin, who took his place as AD candidate.

Mr Darmanin has three years to gain 20 votes more. Birkirkara can look forward with anticipation to a balanced local council in which partisan pique will have to take second place to cooperation. Labour voters must be kicking themselves for not giving the AD candidate their last preference and using their surplus vote to achieve the maximum they can hope for in Birkirkara: equality with their arch-rivals. It is a tactical mistake committed time and again by PN voters wherever they are a minority and have a surplus they cannot use.

In Lija, James Camilleri also could not continue to serve because of an increased workload. It meant that we fielded a candidate who resides outside the locality boundaries, a major disadvantage which rival canvassers did not miss. It took its toll. Edward Fenech offered his services when AD needed them in this election but the electoral effort in the locality was not as exhaustive as that carried out by Mr Camilleri three years previously. We did not expect significant results in Lija.

It was the same in Zabbar. Ian Meli has stood there before but was not on the council. The locality is far too large for a single candidate to canvas thoroughly. It is his hometown and he is committed to building a Green presence there. He is very young and there is time. He too brought the other parties under the 50 per cent mark.

The obvious conclusion from these elections is that the Greens can achieve representation in any locality if they have the time, money, effort and activist support they need. It is unlikely that an even playing field in politics will be achieved any day soon. Democracy still gives our rivals the heebie-jeebies. It is unlikely that we will have an equal television presence in between elections, it is unlikely that we will be able to present the news and conduct televised discussions to counter the constant propaganda of our rivals. We will still face the omnipresent illusion that we are small.

It remains true that with a fraction of the resources of our rivals we can drive in a wedge between them in any locality we choose to concentrate on, in any electoral district we pick. Their slow motion gymnastics on electoral reform will not help them. It is now no longer a matter of time, simply a matter of material resources and human effort, a tiny fraction of what our rivals' gargantuan machinery demands. It is our only challenge. The change we alone can bring about is now on offer to the whole country. We could carcade about it but it is simply not our style.

Dr Vassallo is chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party.

www.alternattiva.org.mt
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