The latest scaremongering campaign against Alternattiva Demokratika involves the alleged peril of having AD holding a PL or PN coalition partner hostage.

Firstly, both the Nationalist Party and the Labour Party may always consider forming a grand coalition themselves.

Secondly, AD has striven against the odds that it has had to face: a flawed and an undemocratic electoral law devised by the same PNPL.

If AD finally makes it to Parliament, it will be very careful what it does because its own continued existence will depend on how the public assesses its contribution in the prevailing bipolar political scenario.

Thirdly, it is pertinent to assess some of the core issues that AD is championing, namely:

1. A revision of the electoral law in line with the recommendations made by the Galdes Commission and Lawrence Gonzi’s own commission, to make the law truly democratic and representative.

2. Effective, transparent party finance regulations that deter or expose the donations/perpetual loans (aka investment) with which big businesses retain a rewarding (for them) influence on the way ministers and their lackeys go about utilising public funds and resources.

3. Instil accountability and ministerial responsibility, rather than the blatant acceptance of gifts on the hollow excuse that this does not influence anything.

4. Ensure meritocracy rather than party alliance when making appointments to public office so that, rather than the interest of the political party or the minister, it will be the national interest that is promoted.

5. Stop paying lip service to the environment and put the environment at the forefront because our quality of life and long-term economy depend on it.

6. Stall the alarming depletion and contamination of the crucial water table, which irresponsible successive governments have failed miserably to address.

7. Uphold civil rights and freedom of expression rather than resort to threatening people with prison sentences.

8. Remove the pension privileges and perks that the PNPL parliamentarians have showered themselves with.

9. Enable the PN and the PL to address long-standing abuses, to which both have conveniently turned a blind eye as they quickly let themselves be held at ransom by the excesses of egocentric lobby groups, at the expense of the public.

10. Have Malta become truly European, thoroughly implementing EU regulations aimed at improving the citizens’ quality of life rather than remaining the fiefdom of either the PN or the PL (and their lackeys) for four and a half years at a time.

Lastly, if the PN really deems that Labour will potentially wreck Malta, the least that the PN can do is to encourage the electorate to give their second preference to AD and, thus, ensure that Labour will not win the election unless it secures an absolute majority – unlike what GonziPN achieved in 2008!