New Alternattiva Demokratika leader Carmel Cacopardo has backed calls for a public discussion on abortion.

In his first speech to party members over the weekend, the architect said abortion was a reality in Malta, as scores of women were going abroad every year to terminate their pregnancies.

Taking a leaf from a call made by the Youth Parliament last week that called for a national debate on abortion, Mr Cacopardo said the silence had to stop.

“This is the minimum that should happen in a country that is supposed to respect ethical pluralism… It is not in the country’s interest to continue running away from the problem,” he said.

AD has until now opposed abortion, making it somewhat of a pariah on the subject within the European Green Party. In the past, AD has rejected the ‘pro-abortion’ label often attributed to it by its rival parties in Malta.

Mr Cacopardo ran uncontested for the post, which became vacant after Arnold Cassola announced his intention not to resubmit his candidature. The former contested the general election with AD for the first time in 2008 after resigning from the Nationalist Party in January of that year.

He had been active for 30 years in the PN before falling out with the party for what he termed its lax attitude in dealing with poor governance.

Mr Cacopardo laid out his intention to bolster the party’s presence on the ground, which has grown thinner and thinner over the years. AD has only one local councillor, in Attard, since its former chairperson Michael Briguglio, a Sliema councillor, resigned from the party last May.

Mr Cacopardo said that the party had to have a presence in every locality and be “a voice for the downtrodden”.

While insisting that an active presence on social media was important, he told party members it was not a substitute for political activism on the ground.

He singled out the Anti-Poverty Alliance for calling out the injustice caused by rising rents and said it was time for the government to intervene in the market by taxing vacant dwellings to stimulate supply.

In a jibe directed towards the PN, Mr Cacopardo said that while others were preoccupied with freemasonry and bank accounts linked to whorehouses, AD had to remain focused on strengthening its organisational capacity.

“This is the only road that will allow us to be in a position to translate our beliefs into concrete political action,” he said.

The AD general meeting also elected long-standing party activist Mario Mallia, an educator, as deputy chairperson.

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