Alternattiva Demokratika would join forces with either of the major parties in a coalition government, leader Harry Vassallo said yesterday as he launched his party's electoral manifesto.
"We're ready to enter a coalition government with anyone who will be ready to implement our agenda," he said, challenging any of the major parties to state whether they have a problem with any of AD's programme points as a matter of principle.
Choosing his words carefully, he steered clear of mentioning a preference when asked whether AD identified with one party more than the other.
"If you take EU membership, for instance... we worked for it because we understood the spirit of what the Union stands for. After accession, the PN, which was in favour of membership, started resisting EU directives, doing its best to avoid them, while Labour keeps sending mixed messages. I believe we would be able to push one to take the EU seriously and the other to embrace European values," he said.
AD is clearly banking on the possibility of neither Labour nor PN gaining a majority of seats in Parliament, which could make its role pivotal should it manage to secure the seat.
Yet, when asked about his party's prospects - AD has failed to obtain a seat in five attempts - he veered away from any categorical statement, saying that he was encouraged by the response the party was receiving on its home visits.
Opinion polls, some of which have shown AD losing ground over the past months, were not a failsafe benchmark, he said, pointing out that they had not predicted Arnold Cassola's performance before the Euro-parliamentary election in 2004, when he polled just under 23,000 votes nationwide.
"I think this time we may be able to spring a surprise because a lot of people are fed up... of voting for the mediocre, because they don't want to vote for those who cheated them..."
He mentioned Carmel Cacopardo and Prof. Cassola (who is now likely to lose his seat in the Italian parliament after the centre-left Government lost a crucial confidence vote) in the list of candidates the party will be fielding, but did not go any further.
"The Prime Minister has been teasing us about the election date for months, please bear with us until the announcement before expecting us to reveal the list of candidates," he said.
In its manifesto the party is focusing on a relatively small number of points gathered under six headings: environment, civil liberties and democracy, housing, transport, family and the economy.
AD is proposing among other things, radical reform at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, which would see its planning and environmental protection remits separated as well as the abrogation of the parliamentary resolution, which extended the development zones in 2006.
The manifesto also pledges greater transparency with a Freedom of Information Act, a Whistleblower Act and a fully-fledged party funding law, which, Dr Vassallo insisted, is required in order to break the link between business, especially in the construction industry, and the political class.