The end of coalition politics?

This week the Nationalist Party formerly announced the end of its preelectoral coalition with Partit Demokratiku after a vote by the executive council.

It came as no great surprise. That this was the case was pretty evident for some time prior to that vote; in fact, I would say the coalition became redundant immediately after the election.

‘Why is that?’ you may ask. There are various reasons. Firstly, coalitions are made to govern and the Forza Nazzjonali coalition lost the election, so its raison d’etre ceased to exist. Secondly, Adrian Delia, during his leadership campaign, made it abundantly clear he was against the pre-electoral coalition agreement in principle.

Coalitions take two to tango, and if one of the partners does not want to dance, then both end up sitting out the tune separately. Adrian Delia, and by proxy the PN members that elected him, had the right to make that choice, whatever their reasons for it; we have to respect and accept that. We at Partit Demokratiku came to the same conclusion when we realised that our two members of parliament elected on that same Forza Nazzjonali ticket were effectively being excluded from working with the rest of the Opposition parliamentary group. I had stated this three weeks before the PN’s announcement in an online interview.

So where does that leave the future of coalition politics in Malta? Let us start with the current situation. We now have three parties in Parliament. Certain people may argue otherwise until they are blue in the face, but PD has been recognised as a separate party within the Opposition by the Speaker of the House. As the PN executive stated in its resolution, the PD and PN may still need to work together on a case-bycase basis. Some form of co-operation and communication will have to remain in place, probably between the incumbent MPs of both parties.

As far as the parties go, they have decided to go their own way in the immediate future. That means they will develop their own manifestos and policies and field their own candidates on separate lists in forthcoming elections. Will that mean that coalition politics is now dead and buried? Hardly. Partit Demoktatiku’s strategic goal is to garner enough votes and seats to create a situation where neither major party will be able to govern alone. We believe that one of the main roots of the evils of poor governance and corruption in this country is the duopoly that currently exists and the revolving door politics and cronyism resulting from it.

With the exception of our close neighbours, Italy, most major democracies in Europe are run successfully and stably by coalition governments. They grow, they prosper, and they have no constitutional crises as a result of not having a single majority government. What they do have is better checks and balances and the inability for one party to practically run a country as a quasi-dictatorship for five years. There is no reason why Malta should not enjoy the same benefits of a multi-party government. We at Partit Demokratiku hope that one day we will do so. Our job is to create that situation by growing and convincing people that this is the way forward; the only way our country and its democracy can truly become modern.

In the future there will probably be no pre-electoral agreement as was the case in the last election. Any agreement reached between parties will depend on electoral results and the compatibility of the respective party manifestos and guiding philosophies. It will depend on good will and the need to give and take and compromise. It will also depend on a degree of mutual respect and the readiness to put country before personal ambition, ego and party loyalty.

I do not believe coalition politics is dead. Yes, the first experiment may have run its course, but for the sake of the country, I hope it won’t be the last.

I do not believe coalition politics is dead. Yes, the first experiment may have run its course, but for the sake of the country, I hope it won’t be the last