Following the news of a formation of a new political party, I published a discussion about the possibility that these new political parties are splintering the third-party movement and will eventually make it easier for the Labour Party to remain in office. Then I referenced the history of Marlene Farrugia’s history of Partit Demokratiku and also uploaded comments by Simon Busuttil who lead the Nationalist Party’s coalition with Marlene Farrugia.
Since then the proponents of the new political parties have defended themselves in other press outlets, but mainly in Times of Malta. They said many things but none of them actually said what they stood for and what they wanted to achieve by forming a new political party. They also refuse to admit that they are splintering the opposition saying that they stand for something completely unique and distinct from all other parties, and this doesn’t make any sense.
Our two main political parties have always been a formation of different political factions and groups. By proposing to pitch every single individual with a political difference on a separate ticket you’re showing a lack of basic understanding at how all kinds of politics in liberal-democracies work out, and ultimately defeating the purpose of going into politics in the first place.
Many seem to be losing the plot. Our current political crisis stems from a rule of law crisis that impairs the system of government. Malta went through its most historic political crisis in history in 2019 which resulted in the resignation of the Prime Minister. The causes of these crisis were impunity and organised crime in politics, mainly in the Labour Party, and these causes have not yet been addressed politically. For a stable and normal functioning government, politicians must face legal actions for their actions, otherwise we will live in a system of governance were politicians can freely abuse their power – this is the root cause of many of our problems right now. This crisis will be solved when the country will have a new Police Commissioner and a new Attorney-General who are willing to uphold the rule-of-law and thus compel the government to function and operate within the limits and function of the law.
This should be the main political mission of the opposition right now, and tangibly, the Nationalist Party has the best chance to take power and address this situation. The Nationalist Party has already called for the resignation of the Attorney-General and the Police Commissioner on multiple occasions. Clearly, the Nationalist Party seems to be committed to address the most urgent issue of our governance and has a chance of winning the general election.
Strangely enough, the Nationalist Party isn’t looking to do any coalitions this time round, and somehow, the Nationalists plan to win the elections single-handedly. On the other hand, the third-parties all want to single-handedly do a revolution with everyone going along with them, and somehow, this is supposed to be an opposition that will effectively change something. From this cacophony, a uniting figure should be able to come out and unite different parts into a movement, yet even Arnold Cassola seems to be confident enough to go at it alone.
It’s a bit ironic that small parties that complain about the “winner takes all” can’t even compromise with their own political cousins, but it is also concerning that the Nationalist Party is not making any effort to bring all these opposition groups into its fold to create a very strong and united opposition movement.
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