Various attempts to intimidate Alternattiva Demokratika's activists, party officials and advisers are being made, party chairman Harry Vassallo claimed yesterday.

This, however, was only serving to strengthen their resolve to rid the country of one-party governments, Dr Vassallo told a news conference.

These governments behaved as though it was business as usual to attempt to suppress the rights of citizens to participate fully in the country's democratic processes.

"Under the Nationalist regime pressure to silence outspoken dissidents is exercised in a more sophisticated manner than was done under Labour regimes," he said.

He claimed that in the past 18 years almost everybody who held a post with the civil service or with a government agency and was actively involved with the Green Party has been warned against exercising his or her democratic rights.

It was intolerable that this practice continued also after Malta joined the EU.

"In many cases, Alternattiva Demokratika officials have been told by their superiors at work that they must choose between their political activity and their hope for promotion or even the right to keep their jobs.

"In other cases, also against Maltese law, government employees such as teachers who are required to resign from government service for a month and lose a month's salary in order to contest an election, were told that they had lost their seniority when they applied for a promotion after returning to their posts."

He said AD elected officials working in the private sector were not immune from pressure.

In many cases, pressure had been exercised by threatening the incomes of party activists thus impacting the lives of spouses and children of party officials who were not involved in political activity.

"The fact that non-officials are affected inhibits us from making a public issue in every case and some cases are going on at present."

This was renewing the party's commitment to rid the country "of this way of doing politics".

"Every time, we gain the strength we need to give an example to others for them to gain the freedom, we have won for ourselves the hard way," said Dr Vassallo.