The (''Alternattiva Demokratika'') is a
Green Political Party in
Malta , particularly dedicated to
Ecology .
Alternattiva Demokratika was founded in 1989.
Labour Party President Tony Abela and Labour
MP Wenzu Mintoff resigned their posts within the
Malta Labour Party and joined a number of environmental activists to form the new Party. Both were expelled from the Labour Party with Mintoff retaining his seat.
Alternattiva Demokratika first stood for national elections in 1992 when it obtained 1.69% of first preferences (their best result so far) and no seats. In subsequent elections (1996, 1998, 2003) their share of the vote declined further, obtaining only 0.7% in 2003. Following the 1998 result, Abela and Mintoff quit the Party and returned to the Labour Party (Mintoff also ran, unsuccessfully, for the 2004
European Parliament elections on a Labour Party ticket).
In 2003 the Party campaigned for a ''Yes'' vote in the referendum on membership in the
European Union .
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
January 2006 , the same
Arnold Cassola accepted to contest the
Italian General Elections in
April for the
Federazione Dei Verdi in the ''
Unione '' Centre-Green-Left
Coalition . He was elected in April by Italian expatriates in the European Constituency to the
Italian Chamber Of Deputies .
The Party holds a seat in each of the
Local Councils of
Sliema and
Sannat .
Chairperson: Dr Harry Vassallo (since 1998)
