Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1122313
6 maltatoday | MONDAY • 27 MAY 2019 NEWS MASSIMO COSTA ALTERNATTIVA Demokratika has warned that the relatively big percentage of voters who voted for Norman Lowell could lead to bigger parties pandering to a culture of hate. In a statement on Sunday afternoon, AD chairperson Carmel Cacopardo thanked all those who had voted for his party, saying that it was too early to comment on how it had fared given only a third of votes have been countred so far. "It seems however that a bigger percent- age of voters than usual have decided to associate themselves with the politics of hate," Cacopardo said, in clear reference to Norman Lowell, who has likely done well in these European elections accord- ing to preliminary indications. "This is worrying because it might lead to the bigger parties to pander to this culture rather than work against it," Ca- copardo said. "For decency's sake as a nation, Maltese politics should understand and engage with xenophobia in a way which never ceases to uphold values of humanity and solidarity," he added. Norman Lowell's strong showing could cause big parties to pander to culture of hate, AD warns Maltese politics should engage with xenophobia in a way which upholds values of humanity and solidarity, Alternattiva Demokratika says PARTIT Demokratiku has chosen to comment upon the low voter turnout and said that this is reflec- tive of an electorate that believes that politics is broken. "30% of [registered] voters have sent a clear message: they think politics is broken beyond fixing and have chosen not to vote," PD said in a statement. In all districts, voting turnout was lower than that in the 2014 MEP election. A majority of those who did turn up to vote chose Labour and it's predicted that Labour won by a majority of more than 45,000, an unprecedented win. On the other hand, it's indicated that PD has obtained 0.6% of the vote. "We would like to thank all the voters who voted for us at yester- day's European Parliament election and we are humbled by those vot- ers who share our vision," the state- ment read. It added that PD strives to repre- sent the "beating heart of clean and honest politics" and that the small party will continue to work for a better Malta. PD appealed in its statement to those who did not show up to vote and that these were being heard by the small party which will make an effort to double down on its work, it said. "Today we continue the journey that was started three years ago. We will launch an internal review process to see how we can continue building a future of balanced and reasoned politics and will announce more details in the coming days," PD concluded. Partit Demokratiku: 30% of voters think politics is broken beyond fixing OVERALL results indicate that third parties have only marginally increased their vote share from 6% in 2014 to 8% now but the balance has clearly shifted to the far right. While in 2014 the third party vote was split between AD and Imperium's Norman Lowell, in this election Lowell emerges as the most popular third party candidate even if he retains the same share of the third party vote as in 2014. The success of the far right sends a clear message that a part of Maltese society is will- ing to support a candidate (Norman Lowell) despite his extremist views on eugenics and his description of Auch- witz as 'Disneyland'. Lowell also managed to out-perform the less brutal but fiercely an- ti-immigrant Moviment Patri- jotti Maltin which got around a 1,000 votes. Neither has this segment of society recoiled at the coun- try's first racially motivated murder which saw political leaders unite in denouncing racism. It is perfectly possible that not all of Lowell's voters share all his unsavoury views, but it is a clear indication that immigration is the only concern strong enough to tip voters' choices away from the duopoly. It may also suggest that the far right may be perceived as the only anti-system political force which is capturing the malaise created by rising in- equalities. For it may well be easier for such voters to vent anger against those who are more vulnerable than them (immi- grants) than against those who are more powerful (big busi- ness). The third parties have failed to communicate with this cohort of angry voters by addressing social inequalities in a language which can be understood by those who are feeling marginalised. Overall this may be a reflec- tion of the ambiguity on this issue shown by both govern- ment and opposition in con- fronting this issue in the past decade, periodically exploiting anti-immigrant sentiments or stereotyping foreigners. The success of the far right may well serve as a wake-up call for the need of more, and not less integration, and for policies which address social fractures Third party balance JAMES DEBONO