A new centre-left political party, spearheaded by independent MP Marlene Farrugia, is expected to be launched sometime this month, focusing on the need for good governance and the protection of the environment, two areas that certainly need addressing.
Dr Farrugia and much of the media have referred to this new party as Malta’s third political party – overlooking the fact that Malta already has a third party, Alternattiva Demokratika, which, however, has no MPs.
Whether this new party manages to strike a chord with the electorate depends on many factors, but recent political history has shown that voters are not particularly keen to vote for small parties and have, since independence, overwhelmingly backed the two large parties. Alternattiva Demokratika’s share of the vote since it first contested a general election in 1992 has varied from 0.7 per cent (in 2003) to 1.8 per cent (in 2013), and the party has never had a candidate elected to Parliament. It is also true that Malta’s electoral system discourages voters from backing smaller parties.
Dr Farrugia is well intentioned, she showed tremendous courage in breaking ranks with the Labour Party over a matter of principle, she is correct to highlight the Labour government’s poor record in good governance and the environment and she remains a respected figure in the country.
However, she will find it very difficult to attract substantial nationwide support for her new party unless it includes a number of well-known personalities or political heavyweights – something Alternattiva Demokratika lacked over the years, with a few exceptions.
The new party’s beliefs, ideology and principles – and who exactly it appeals to – will have an important bearing on its ability to attract votes. Dr Farrugia has said the party will be of a centre-left orientation and will focus on improving the level of good governance in Malta. Her criticism of the government’s environment record when still a Labour MP also suggests that the new party will also have a strong pro-environment label.
How exactly Dr Farrugia’s party will differ from Alternattiva Demokratika, which has made the environment and good governance central platforms of its policy, remains to be seen. Will this party take votes from AD? Is there space in our political system for two small centre-left parties?
Should a merger with AD be considered? If not, will Dr Farrugia’s party adopt a Liberal platform to distance itself from AD as a Green party? Will the party hope to attract the support of the thousands of liberal ‘switchers’ who voted Labour at the last election, many of who are now returning to the Nationalist Party?
If this new party is to have any chance of success it must have clearly defined beliefs; it is not enough to expect to do well only on the basis of public revulsion at the numerous corruption allegations engulfing the country. After all, the Nationalist Party has made good governance its number one priority in these three years in Opposition, and PN leader Simon Busuttil has taken measures within his own party to prove he is serious about this issue.
Dr Farrugia has said that another party in Parliament would be good for democracy and would guarantee a strong, fresh voice in the country. There are arguments to be made for both a two-party system – such as political stability and not having the horse-trading which inevitably takes place during coalition negotiations – and a multi-party system, such as having more consensus-based politics and less of a ‘winner takes all attitude’ by the government of the day.
It is up to the electorate, of course, to decide whether it finally wants to break with the country’s two-party system which has dominated the political landscape since independence. Much will depend on the extent to which the established political parties will incorporate good governance and environmental protection into their own platforms, thus potentially ‘stealing the clothes’ of the new political party before it becomes firmly established.