As election day approaches, those entitled to vote and who do not have built-in blue or red convincement, will be considering other options which, this election time, have become available, and specifically Alternattiva Demokratika and Azzjoni Nazzjonali.

Let us have a look at whether, in the reality of the local situation and of the current legislation, these two parties in fact provide any real options to the electorate.

Starting with the Alternattiva Demokratika, as the more established of the two contenders, this party has made it obvious that their main objective is to obtain at least one or more seats in Parliament to be able to form part of a coalition with the party gaining the majority of seats.

It has been unashamedly targeting PN voters by playing on their particular gripes, such as Qui-si-sana issues, rent laws and anti-hunting stand. Its leader has moreover also stated that, if the majority party would want to push forward some legislation which AD does not feel cosy with, then they (AD) would withdraw from the coalition and pull down the government with it. In my language, this is called holding the party with the majority of public support at ransom - no more, no less. The flip-side to all this of course, is that the Nationalist Party has already strongly declared that it will not participate in such a coalition, basically taking the wind out of AD's sails. The PN would prefer to stay on the Opposition benches than cohabit in Parliament with AD. At the same time, the Labour Party, in clear Sant double-speak, does not exclude anything (remember his readiness to do a pact with the devil?).

With this background, what will the free-thinking voter then conclude? Clearly, that a vote for AD can result in one of two options: either the MLP obtaining more votes than the PN (with AD having convinced enough PN supporters, but not enough to give AD a seat) or that a coalition MLP-AD will rule. In both instances, these will deliver the keys of Castille to Alfred Sant - enough said!

Then there is of course the newly born Azzjoni Nazzjonali, spear-headed by two successful businessmen, trying to appeal to all sorts of disgruntled people, such as hunters, gays or those living close to the "open centres" for refugees. Whichever way the two leaders try to divert any discussion where they present themselves at a discussion, the clear image coming out is of an opportunistic party which is leaning much too much to the right.

Their shady declarations on how they would deal with the illegal immigrants issue create more questions than the answers they present. As to the eventuality of gaining a seat or more in the forthcoming elections, it appears that the AN is not talking of forming a coalition with one party, but of forming part of a National government. Now, this is a non-starter if there ever was one! Does Josie Muscat seriously believe that the party with the majority of votes, but not seats, will accept to share power not only with the AN but also with their eternal rival, the PN or the MLP? This of course could never happen - so why dream?

The conclusion to the above is that, in my opinion, and in the current electoral legislation, voting for the smaller parties would be tantamount to either a wasted vote, or a vote for the MLP. Don't accept this conclusion of mine, but do some thinking yourselves!