Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1532058
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 FEBRUARY 2025 5 INTERVIEW The following are excerpts from the interview. The full interview can be found on maltatoday.com.mt as well as our Facebook and Spotify pages. PHOTOS: JAMES BIANCHI / MALTA TODAY The values on which you say the party is built on are all values which people agree with. I don't want to live in a corrupt coun- try; I want to leave my house and see trees everywhere; but some- one like you has to translate these values into policy. How will you do that? After the European Parliament election, we have been organising what we call Vision Circles. These are focus groups which see the attendance of hundreds of people from all walks of life. There we debate ideas on particular subjects, and then we collect the different views and opinions we observe. We have already organised four events, and the first one was on transparency and democracy. From that focus group we have already issued a document which outlines the ideas and proposals which we feel should be implemented. We have discussed subjects like education, the economy; we believe that in this way people are participating and we are using the expertise of industry professionals. People who observe the political land- scape might see Mo- mentum as Cassola's party. There could be a positive aspect to this as in Malta a strong leader makes a party stronger. But the downside to this could be that people like you are overshadowed by him. How do you handle this situation? Professor Cassola has been active in Maltese politics for over 30 years, and he has always remained consistent. He has been fighting for the environment for years. In the MEP election we published a photo, which went viral, of him after he was arrested during a protest from the past. He is also very persistent. Look at what he was able to do when he was alone, look at what he was able to do when we were a small team. In the last general election, he broke the record for the biggest share of votes as an independent candidate, and in the MEP election he had 13,000 first-count votes and finished with around 23,000 votes. A lot of people believe in Arnold and gave him their vote. This does not mean we cannot improve, but he gives a lot of space to collaborate. The strength of the leader in our party is that he allows different voices and opinions on sensitive issues. You mentioned some- thing which I was go- ing to ask you about. With each candidate voting according to their views on the subject – could this not be a source of confusion for people who vote for you? Let's use abortion as an example. Imagine the leader is against abortion, the deputy leader is in favour and the secretary general agrees in exceptional cases. Imagine I want to vote for you, what reassurance is there that you will legislate and back Bills which reflect my views? I believe this issue is only the top priority – the only reason to vote – for a handful of people. Fair enough, they have every right, and if our candidates make it clear from the beginning, there will be no confusion. For others, it might be something they would like enacted into law, but it will not be the only thing which determines their vote. Our candidates will have that flexibility, and will declare their views from the start. […] We had cases like that of Jean Paul Sofia, when lo and behold, every government MP was against the public inquiry, when it was so clear they followed the Prime Minister's orders, and no one had the guts to vote against. Small parties and the individuals which rep- resent them complain the Maltese elector- al system is skewed against them. But in Ireland, where they have the same elector- al system, at least five parties are elected into parliament in every election. Is it a question of always using the excuse that the system is against you to justify your lack of success? Could it be that maybe peo- ple want stability and vote for the devil they know? It is not an excuse. It is a fact people have never believed enough in the smaller parties, and it is something we can work on. You mentioned the Irish electoral system – in Malta there are fine details, which were not originally in place, which have slowly eroded the political eco-system in allowing new parties to come in. Among them the gender quotas which were introduced recently. The idea is good, but it was only introduced for the PL and the PN. You had candidates like ADPD's Sandra Gauci who fared well, but despite having more votes, was not elected, and candidates from the PL and the PN, leapfrogged over her and were elected into parliament. The ballot sheet in Ireland ranks candidates irrespective of which party they contest with, in alphabetical order and that prevents donkey voting, which we know happens a lot in Malta.