AD's election report highlights arrogance, need to shift policies

Alternattiva Demokratika can no longer be a party just for the environment if it is to make inroads, according to a report probing the party's poor performance at the polls last March.

AD must be a party that is relevant to all sectors of society not just to those who are environmentally sensitive and it can do this by taking up issues from a green perspective. The party must develop a wider discourse that encompasses bread and butter issues including employment, security, health care and pensioners' rights.

The report, drawn up by Carmel Cacopardo, Claire Bonello and Kurt Sansone, tries to analyse what could have led to AD's paltry 1.3 per cent or 3,810 first preference votes.

Expectations identified from those interviewed by the commission ranged between the more down-to-earth individuals aiming at around 5,000 votes and the more confident ones who were expecting a poll in the region of 7,000 votes.

Expectations were fed and sustained by an overconfidence built up on the basis of the AD 2004 European Parliament elections result.

Although it is difficult to determine whether Azzjoni Nazzjonali ate into AD's potential vote, it is possible that AN captured at least part of the protest vote that would otherwise have gone to AD.

The report says there is no point raising expectations irrationally, especially when confronted with a developing trend indicated by independent surveys that had clearly shown that AD's vote was stuck at the two per cent mark for a whole year before the last election.

This attitude increasingly became stale and bordered on "perceived arrogance" since it took for granted the vote of the 20,000-plus who voted for AD in the 2004 European elections.

A major question remains: why did more people choose to stay at home on election day rather than cast their vote for a third or fourth party?

This showed, the report concludes, that voter transferability remains an elusive dream for any minor party. If this culture persists, it will always be difficult for AD to elect an MP, especially if its candidates fail to secure a significant first count vote.

An analysis of where AD's votes went when its candidates were eliminated indicated that at least up to a third of its supporters chose not to transfer their vote to other parties after their AD preference was utilised. But the analysis also reveals that AD voters were equally unsympathetic to both the major parties.

When AD candidates were eliminated, on a national level, 33.5 per cent of AD votes were inherited by PN candidates, 30 per cent went to Labour candidates, and 36 per cent were non-transferable.

Ultimately, the report underlined the need for AD to reactivate its presence at local level over time. It is only after such an experience that it would be reasonable for the electorate at a national level to warm up to the benefits of a coalition government, the report says.