Expect a long ballot sheet next general election

For two decades, voters across Malta and Gozo have had the same three political parties appearing on the ballot sheet at election time. Ever since 1992, the Labour and Nationalist parties have shared the space with Alternattiva Demokratika. This threesome briefly turned into a foursome in 2008 when Josie Muscat’s now-defunct Azzjoni Nazzjonali presented candidates in all districts. But come 2018 the number of political parties is likely to double. The PL, PN and AD will have to vie with Marlene Farrugia’s Partit Demokratiku, Henry Battistino’s Moviment Patrijotti Maltin and Ivan Grech Mintoff’s Alleanza Bidla. It still has to be seen whether these three new political formations will present candidates on all 13 districts but their presence ensures voters will, for the first time since 1962, have six parties to choose from. How long they will last after the election is questionable but sociologist Michael Briguglio, himself an AD councillor in Sliema, believes the rise of political formations attached to a primary issue follows the European trend. He sees Marlene Farrugia’s PD coalescing around the issue of good governance and developing on the lines of the Spanish citizens’...