Alternattiva Demokratika only marginally improved its electoral performance since 2009 but it still had a future in the Maltese political scene, chairman Arnold Cassola said yesterday.

Reacting to the electoral result which, according to preliminary figures showed that AD garnered 2.8 per cent of the votes, Prof. Cassola said the party could not say it was satisfied with the result. He had a mandate until October, which he intended to see out.

It is worrying that so many voters backed ideas which included hanging people or drowning them

He said AD improved by 0.5 per cent over the 2009 EP election and around a percentage point better than the result obtained during last year’s general election.

The massive backing given to the Labour Party showed people were satisfied with the government’s performance and its policies, especially since the gap between the two main parties echoed the March 2013 general election result.

Asked by Times of Malta whether AD was worried about the possibility it could be overtaken by far-right parties in terms of votes, Prof. Cassola said this was worrying for the country rather than his party.

He said the votes achieved by the smaller parties, including that of extremist Norman Lowell, showed that people were concerned about the phenomenon on illegal migration. More than anything, he said, people were worried migrants would take their jobs.

“It is worrying that so many voters backed ideas which included hanging people or drowning them. This message strengthens our calls for a proper job creation plan and an employment policy to create more and better jobs for the Maltese,” he said.

On migration, he said the country needed to gather all its stakeholders to address the issue with proper measures rather than “populist solutions”.