AD says PN 'block voting' cost it dear

Around nine per cent of first preference votes cast for Nationalist Party candidates were wasted, according to Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo.

Dr Vassallo said these voters opted for the "block vote" system, voting only for the party's candidates.

Addressing a news conference yesterday afternoon, Dr Vassallo explained that if voters had given at least their number nine preference to AD candidate Arnold Cassola, Prof. Cassola would have stood a better chance of being elected.

However, the PN had urged its followers to vote only for its own candidates. Had they not done that, nine per cent of the vote would have gone to Prof. Cassola, he said.

"We are still in the game; the election has not finished yet," he said at 3 p.m. while the fourth count was under way.

Asked whether AD had worked harder to win votes from Nationalist supporters than from Labour, Dr Vassallo said the party had targeted everyone.

AD, he said, was very satisfied with the result. Prof. Cassola had secured 22,938 first preference votes and the party's vote had gone up by over 1,000 per cent. This was a new reality.

AD was also satisfied that neither of the two big parties managed to obtain 50 per cent of the valid votes. The MLP lost 14,000 votes since the last election, while the PN lost 44,000.

And almost 23,000 people had not been influenced by the fear campaigns, deciding to vote for the Green Party. The result was significant, going far beyond the highest percentage the party had obtained in local elections (6.1 per cent).

"It is a sign that a good number of voters want a change in local politics," he said, adding that the party agreed with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi's comments that the people had voted intelligently, had shown political maturity and wanted a serious government.

Asked what he thought was the way forward, Dr Vassallo said all parties needed to engage in a rethink.

He confirmed an incident that took place yesterday morning at the Ta' Qali counting hall. He said that when independent candidate Damien Iwueke's votes were being counted again, a vote for Prof. Cassola was discovered, which meant that the vote had been misplaced.

This, he said, created a problem, because initially the electoral authorities did not want to give the vote to the AD candidate.

"If there are more mistakes of this kind, there will be problems," he said.