Democratic Alternative (Malta)

Democratic Alternative Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party
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Leader	Arnold Cassola
Founded	1989 (1989)
Headquarters	P.O. Box 38, Marsa MTP 1001, Malta
Youth wing	Malta Green Youths
Ideology	Green politics
Political position	Centre-left
European affiliation	European Green Party
International affiliation	Global Greens
Colours	Green
House of Representatives	0 / 69
European Parliament	0 / 6
Website
www.alternattiva.org.mt
Politics of Malta Political parties Elections

Democratic Alternative (Maltese: Alternattiva Demokratika) is a green political party in Malta, particularly dedicated to environmentalism.

History

Democratic Alternative was founded in 1989 when former Malta Labour Party President Toni Abela and former Labour MP and Parliamentary whip Wenzu Mintoff joined a number of environmental activists to form the new political party. Abela and Mintoff had resigned their posts in protest to the presence of certain elements in the Labour Party tainted with political violence and corruption. For this Abela and Mintoff were expelled from the Labour Party. Mintoff retained his seat in Parliament and, between 1989 and 1992 was effectively an MP for the new party as well as its first Chairperson.

Democratic Alternative first stood for the 1992 national elections when it obtained 1.69% of first preference votes (their best result in a general election until 2013) and no seats. In the subsequent elections of 1996 and 1998 the Party's share of the vote declined. Following the 1998 result, Abela and Mintoff resigned and returned to the Labour Party (Abela was to be elected Labour's Deputy Leader in 2008).

Harry Vassallo replaced Mintoff as Chairperson of the Party in 1998. In 2003 the party campaigned for a Yes vote in the referendum on membership in the European Union but the declining trend in general elections continued and in election that year the Party obtained only 0.7% of first preference votes. In 2004 the party obtained a remarkable result in the European Parliament election with 9.33% of first preference votes cast and the party's candidate, Arnold Cassola narrowly failing to be elected as MEP.

In the Maltese general election of 2008, the party increased its share of the vote to 1.31%. After ten years at the helm, Vassallo resigned as Chairperson and was replaced by Cassola. Barely a year later Cassola handed his resignation following the Party's poor showing at the European Parliament Election in June 2009. Cassola was replaced by Michael Briguglio in October 2009.

Democratic Alternative holds a seat in the local councils of Attard and Sliema.

In the general election of 2013, Democratic Alternative obtained its best ever result with 5,506 votes (1.8%) in total across all districts where they ran candidates but failed to win a seat in parliament. The party's best result was in District 10 where then party leader Michael Briguglio received 741 first preference votes and a further 154 transfers before being eliminated after the 17th count. The quota for that district was 3,679 votes. After the election some Democratic Alternative supporters claimed this raised a number of issues regarding representation. Talks are expected to take place during a constitutional convention with regards to addressing anomalies with the current Maltese electoral system.

Media

In the 1990s, Democratic Alternative had its own newspaper publication, Alternattiva, whose editor in chief for quite a number of years (1989–91) was Harry Vassallo, and its own radio station, Capital Radio.

Leaders

• Wenzu Mintoff 1989-1998
• Harry Vassallo 1998-2008
• Arnold Cassola 2008-2009
• Michael Briguglio 2009-2013
• Arnold Cassola 2013-

See also

• Green party
• Green politics
• List of environmental organizations

External links

• Official web site
• Official Facebook Page