Elections are over. Results are what they are. We are now all discussing why we did not do better. Of course, with hindsight, it is much easier to pinpoint decisions wrongly taken, issues which should or should have not been taken on, what other issues should have been the focal point of debate and whatnot.
With hindsight, one can also safely state that, with regards to surveys – apart from the It-Torċa ones, which were spot on – it was quite a mess. Not only was the gap between PL and PN underestimated, but even the amount of votes that we at AD got were not exactly gauged.
But let us forget hindsight and highlight a decision that was taken with foresight by AD. This was the conscious decision not to contest the election as part of the PN list in what was erroneously termed a ‘coalition’.
The whole scope of a real coalition, apart from ensuring that it reflects the plurality and diversity of all parties forming part of it, is to get added value by having extra votes being added to the votes of the one major party that would otherwise go on its own.
We explained it repeatedly to the PN officials that by contesting under the PN name and banner, we would not be adding any extra votes to the coalition, since AD core voters were telling us that they would never vote for us as PN candidates. Moreover, try to imagine how PL voters could be enticed to vote for a maduma list.
We even warned that Marlene Farrugia would not bring a single vote with her to the supposed coalition, but she would just eat into the already convinced PN voters. Results have proven us right.
We at AD took a conscious pre-electoral decision to give up our realistic chances of having somebody elected in a PN list by piggy-backing on PN voters’ preferences, and instead decided to be faithful to our values, ideals and principles.
We did not bend over backwards to have all and sundry on the bandwagon to garner as many votes as possible
And when I say “we”, I mean the 10 elected members of the AD executive committee, for whom some self-centred intellectual guru seems to show no respect at all by implying that it is Cassola-Cacopardo who decide everything at AD.
The consequences of such a decision were well known to us. We got a déjà vu of 2003, when the 17-minute backstabbing at Luxol by Eddie Fenech Adami, as thanks for our asking voters to give us the number two preference, led to the worst result in our history: 1,900 votes.
Now our refusal to form part of the so-called coalition led to a certain amount of panic on the part of the PN and consequent demonisation of AD. Many PN voters who sympathised, however, with AD, just followed the PN’s call and simply abandoned us in all their preferences. Result: just over 2,500 votes, the AD core vote.
I am convinced that the great majority of the so-called coalition voters had good intentions. They were led to believe that the phantom Forza Nazzjonali was going to deliver.
In spite of the good intentions, instead they contributed with their vote to a devastating ‘four in one’ result: weakening AD, contributing to having the PN obtain its worst result since World War II, destroying Simon Busuttil’s political career and his chance of becoming prime minister and strengthening Keith Schembri’s role as de facto prime minister and Konrad Mizzi as his assistant.
Is this what the bona fide ‘coalition’ voters wanted? Certainly not. what AD insisted upon during the election campaign is today more relevant than ever. Through its principled stance, Alternattiva Demokratika gave an example of what honest and ethical leadership in politics is all about.
We did not bend over backwards to have all and sundry on the bandwagon to garner as many votes as possible and in the process make a pact with the devil – the inclusion of rightist exponents like Josie Muscat and Wayne Hewitt were a case in point.
Nor did we follow the ‘please all’ posturing by the other parties rather than calling a spade a spade.
The end result of these past elections certainly provides food for thought for one and all. Rather than pontificating, it would be a good idea to reflect on the lessons learnt.
The general good of the Maltese comes before any self-centred ego trip.
arnoldcassola@gmail.com
Arnold Cassola is the chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika.