Small is beautiful

There is a huge difference between needing to announce a victory having conquered +50 per cent of the vote and savouring the success of gaining a presence at all. In local elections the concern of our rivals to score over one another seems particularly misplaced. Who cares who wins? What exactly does it mean if this or that party has more or less than the other on average over 23 local elections? Is it worth the media blurb? The PN gymnastics in Zejtun and Marsa? The MLP nonsense over percentage points in promise fulfillment?

The Greens' target is to achieve a presence on as many as possible of the six local councils they will be contesting this time around. Our achievements will not mean defeat for anyone. We will not crow over the fallen. There will be no celebration carnival. We will be delighted and we will go to work at once.

Today there are Green councillors in Birkirkara, Lija, Sliema and Swieqi. Their presence changes the situation altogether. Having no majoritarian ambitions they take office determined to work with councillors from other parties to get something done. It is an infectious attitude. To a great extent they counter the influence of national parties in the local council context. The partisan arm wrestling becomes embarrassingly futile under the gaze of a dispassionate and disapproving witness.

In every locality the situation is different: Greens in Mellieha offer their own perspectives to the local challenges. With a major road development planned in the area, a Green backbone in the local council will be no small asset. Free of the ravenous financial needs of the other parties, Greens are better placed to strike a fair balance between the rights of business and those of residents. Fabio Grima is himself a businessman, but a Green. It is possible. In fact it is the only way in the long run.

It is the same in St Julians where tourism-related development has come close to killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Fishermen have been elbowed out of this fishing village. With no structure to guard the core cultural heritage of the place, individual operators have been able to place ever greater pressure on fishermen bringing the trade to the verge of extinction. Can St Julians do without the coloured traditional craft? Will it be better off when the last boat is beached for good? Will the restaurants do better business?

The plight of St Julians fishermen only illustrates more clearly the more diffused situation of residents whose lifestyle is crippled by the weight of the entertainment industry on their doorstep. Often it is a gnat bite that makes life hellish: a restaurant kitchen next door, that infernal air conditioning plant from the hotel towering over one's home. Development and progress have become mantras which reduce every and any resident into a minority of one when faced with the catastrophe to his or her peace of mind. Greens have a long track record in going against the tide. Faye Palmqvist can bring a new perspective to a local council so far more often noticed by its absence.

It is not very different in St Paul's Bay where development has rarely been associated with sustainability. Residents have always come off second best in any contest with tourism development which has not been significantly troubled by their concerns. Many residential roads remain in a "virgin" state while public areas and cherished seascapes are marred by business misappropriation. Carmel Hili, a founder of the Maltese Green Party, is well equipped to right the balance.

A highly-qualified biologist, he also brings valuable professional baggage to the care of a large and diverse part of the Maltese countryside within the locality. His commitment to bring specific representation to the separate communities in the locality such as Burmarrad and Xemxija will allow them to address the neglect they have experienced so far.

In L-Iklin Franco Pisani brings his youth and energy to the task of establishing the identity of the locality, one of Malta's newest. It is in the interest of residents that they find the means to coalesce and address the challenges of burgeoning through-traffic as well as acquiring the community services which have long been available in older communities.

Pembroke's Mark Causon needs no introduction being a co-founder of the Green Party and its environment spokesman. His commitment to Pembroke is well known to local residents and his efforts as councillor in the 1994 council stand witness to his ability. A return of Greens to Pembroke will once more reduce partisan friction and focus councillors' energies more consistently on getting things done.

Toni Falzon, contesting the Nadur election for the Greens, adds a new element to a locality already well engaged in the task of discovering its full potential. Green expertise can enhance what has already been done and give strength and continuity to a council that has already gone a long way in the right direction. A returned migrant and a farmer, Toni Ta' Puupla is a senior citizen who combines an international experience with agricultural expertise in a Green perspective: he is passionate about organic farming, unquestionably a promising opportunity for his community.

As do all Green councillors, his election would bring to his locality a direct link with the Greens' long track record in championing residents' causes, as well as with the expertise available to the Green Group in the European Parliament. Long before Malta's accession to the EU, Maltese Greens had availed themselves of their influence there to address local issues. Today the possibility to leap over local red tape and partisan intrigue to access a vast knowledge base and know-how in participating in EU programmes is an invaluable asset.

The Nadur election also has significance for the whole of Gozo. The growing Green presence in the island promises a release from the stranglehold of traditional politics and a new voice for all Gozitans, a better articulation of their status as an island region on a national level.

To make a hotchpotch out of all these realities and reduce it all to a percentage in a meaningless national average would be an insult to the intelligence of residents well aware of the peculiarities of their own locality. It is worse still to impose a partisan discipline on voters imposing a block vote to exclude cross-party voting in the interests of the overall party result. Greens never instruct their supporters not to vote for second, third or fourth best candidates simply because they stand in the interests of other parties. We encourage all voters to express as many preferences as they feel that the candidates deserve, to make one's vote count as far as possible.

Many will be voting Green for the first time in this election, whether foreign nationals allowed to vote for the first time, young voters, or those interested in bringing about a change for the better. Welcome to a beautiful minority that can make all the difference, welcome to a victory with no losers.

Dr Vassallo is chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party.

www.alternattiva.org.mt