Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1183404
17 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 NOVEMBER 2019 INTERVIEW PN seems to be split down the middle. Like PD, AD has traditionally drawn its support base mostly from disgruntled Nationalists… I would say 'pale blue voters'. And I think it's mostly because of our position in favour of the EU before the 2003 refer- endum. I think it comes from there. Because on the whole, it's not as though our policies bore very much resemblance to the PN's… But the EU issue is finished now. Which raises the question: why vote for AD today? Do you think those pale blue voters vote AD because they agree with your policies? And if so: does that mean that people who agree with your policies amount to only around 1% of the population? I think most of the people who vote for us, do so because they have a certain set of values and principles - or whatever – and in AD, they see the party that most approximates what they believe in. Because the big, mainstream parties campaign more on the basis of what they can 'give' the voter once in power. Material things, basi- cally. It is very difficult for us to campaign on materialistic things. Even If the big parties take on some of our agenda from time to time… Actually, they've both taken quite a few of AD's core issues on board… Yes, but they don't do a very good job of them, in my opinion. Let's take climate change, for example. OK, so a climate emer- gency has been declared. But what has happened, in practice? New Zealand has just put a zero emissions target, by 2050, into law. What have we done? And If you look at what 'Extinction Rebellion (XR)' are doing in the UK, it is no comparison to what is happening in Malta… Now that you mention XR: do you agree with their 'disruptive' sort of approach? It's an issue of strategy. Some- times, the only way to get an is- sue onto the agenda – or to get things moving, at least – is to be disruptive. Maybe they can do it, because they're a loosely defined organization. If a po- litical party tried the same ap- proach, it would look a bit… silly, for want of a better word. Although, when I was at Sixth Form and University, we pro- tested by blocking roads, once or twice. It's something that used to happen, but no long- er does. In Malta, there is a tendency to hold back; even among the young. I'm not sure why, myself… You raise an important distinction between 'political party' and 'NGO'. From the very beginning, there has been the argument that AD would have been more effective as a lobby group than a political party. Would you say that – today, with all these new NGOs being formed – there is some truth to that? Not really, no. Because even when lobby groups campaign… sometimes, the issues they are promoting do get taken up by the mainstream parties; but it's limited… and even then, it's just lip-service they get, most of the time. It's the case of win- ning the battle, but only on one issue, and only for a short time. Ultimately, lobby-groups and political parties might have the same objectives on certain is- sues; but they have different ways of reaching them. Per- sonally, I think that – when it works, at least – politics is the most effective way of getting things done. We have lots of things working against us – the electoral system, and so on - but if you believe in something, you don't give up so easily. The electoral system is something AD has been complaining about for 30 years. Do you still think it is what holds people back… i.e., the old argument that 'a vote for AD is a wasted vote?' It's certainly still part of the problem. But there is talk of a Constitutional convention now. And President George Vella seems to be serious about it. We had a meeting with him last Tuesday, as part of the on- going public consultation. He said that a document will come out, containing all the propos- als. So hopefully, things will start moving. But at the end of the day, it's Parliament that will have to ap- prove, or not, a new Constitu- tion. And neither Labour nor PN has made any public state- ments about what they want to see in this new Constitution… What does AD want to see, when it comes to electoral reform? Among other things, a party list system: which would also solve the problem of gender balance. The way they want to do it now, by just 'topping up', is not really a serious approach. It isn't done anywhere else; and it's really undemocratic, to just parachute people into Parliament, simply because they're women. It's important to achieve gender balance, yes; but it has to be done right… through a proper reform of the electoral system. Earlier you mentioned 'things that are working against AD'… does that include internal factors? Do you think there may be a problem with the 'AD Brand'…? With our values, you mean? No, with the brand. How the public perceives the party… Well, politics has become about 'branding' and 'presen- tation', there can be no doubt about it. I would say we do the best we can, with the limited resources we have. We don't have the DB Group giving us E700,000, or anything like that. But, having said that… [laugh- ing] E30,000 would be enough for us, if there's anyone out there listening… Joking apart: party financing is another issue AD has been complaining about for years. There has been a party financing law in the meantime; has it made any tangible difference? When it comes to financing AD, we do receive small dona- tions here and there. We have membership fees; which, at around E15, [sarcastic tone] are the highest membership fees of any party in Malta. But in the bigger picture, people – espe- cially businesses - don't donate money to political parties to promote ideas and values. In the main, they donate to get something back. Even with the party financing law in place. The DB story is a good exam- ple of this. The 'donations' were in lieu of adverts. That's a way around the party financing law: by taking out adverts in a party's TV station, instead of just giving it money. The way I see it, the big parties still have the advantage of being able to campaign on materialistic things – not to mention the electoral system, which, again, works against small parties anyway. We only have matters of principle to compete with. And to date, the materialis- tic approach has continued to work. Things might be chang- ing slowly, however. But things take a very, very, very long time to change in Malta… material world PHOTOGRAPHY JAMES BIANCHI