New right-wing party no threat to political leaders

The new right-wing party is not being seen as a threat to the three existing political parties, amid claims that Azzjoni Nazzjonali is a hotchpotch of contradictions to appeal to the masses.

It is the first reaction by the leaders of the Nationalist Party, the Labour Party and Alternattiva Demokratika, three days after Azzjoni Nazzjonali was officially launched pledging to "clean up" Malta of dirt, corruption and immigrants.

Steered by former Nationalist MP Josie Muscat, property developer Anglu Xuereb and university lecturer Philip Beattie, the party is hoping to garner support from disgruntled voters, and is appealing to people who, it claimed, have been "set aside" by the two main political parties.

Dr Muscat said the party wanted to allow illegal migrants to stay in the country for only one month, after which they should be sent to other countries.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi told The Times it will be the people who will ultimately judge the new party.

However, he added: "Anybody who adopts a position that doesn't respect human dignity worries me, irrespective of who it is. I've always been clear about this".

Dr Gonzi has been at the forefront in appealing for human compassion in light of the problem of illegal immigration afflicting the island. As head of a major party, Dr Gonzi said he was guided by the intrinsic values that directed his party when drawing up its policies.

"Independently of the new party announced over the weekend, I believe we should have respect for other people. We need to put these policies into practice. We simply can't favour human dignity one moment because someone has a disability and then forget about it because it pays us to say so," the Prime Minister said.

Opposition leader Alfred Sant said that until it remains in line with the limits of democracy and constitutional rules, AN has every right to set up a political party. He made it clear the MLP disagrees with AN's views.

"They are speaking more about issues rather than ideologies," he said, when contacted.

Is he worried with the tough stance propagated against illegal immigrants?

"There already is a negative reaction towards illegal immigrants, and it's clearly a national problem. (But) it all depends on the way you approach the problem: You either act in the national interest, in a partisan way, or in a sectoral way. When you make general statements, you are simply raising your flag. I'm more interested in hearing about the measures they intend taking," Dr Sant said.

Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo described AN as a party full of contradictions as it tries to appease everybody.

It was ironic that AN was aligning itself to the rightist parties, which are mainly responsible for objecting to the concept of burden sharing where illegal immigration was concerned.

Such an ultra conservative party was practically eradicating the progress achieved by the country in 40 years, wherein people learnt the virtue of tolerance towards groups like homosexuals, Dr Vassallo said.

Though it was not clear who constituted the new party, the AD leader said certain individuals seen during the launch were aligned to groups with questionable reputations.

"Ultimately, whoever supports such a diametrically opposed party evidently has no ideologies. People who don't think too much about politics might be attracted and deceived, but if you really think well, you can't possibly align yourself to them," Dr Vassallo said.

Still, Dr Vassallo is not particularly worried about AN, and described its well-publicised launch at the Le Meridien Phoenicia last Saturday as unimpressive.

The bigger the number of parties, the merrier, he said, because it would help the electorate realise the similarity between the two main parties while helping to eradicate genetic politics.