The coalition option

Alternattiva Demokratika has long criticised what it deems to be Malta's political status quo. Several AD spokesmen have long said it would be beneficial for Malta to have a third party in Parliament and possibly even a coalition government.

According to AD, such a reality would control the arrogance of the major party. An example frequently mentioned is Germany where the small green party of Joschka Fischer was in coalition with Gerhard Schröder's SPD.

Ironically, it is the same Germany that today is proving just how dangerous a third party in the Maltese Parliament could be.

In Germany, the CDU/CSU group got the highest number of votes in the election since they obtained 35.2 per cent, which is roughly one per cent more than their closest opponents, the SPD.

One would thus assume that the CDU/CSU leader Angela Merkel would become Germany's new Chancellor. Thanks however to the small parties, namely the FDP and the Greens, we could very well see the party with the highest number of votes remaining in opposition and the losing SPD holding on to office.

In the coalition scenario, netting the highest amount of votes is not the way to power, indeed it is getting the biggest coalition that is more important.

Imagine this scenario in Malta; imagine an election where neither the PN nor the MLP get 50 per cent +1 of the vote. Imagine that, in the same election, AD elects an MP. If the MLP and AD form a coalition in such a scenario, despite attaining the bigger number of votes, the PN would be doomed to the opposition benches. Is this fair? Let the electorate be the judge!