Launch of new political party imminent

The decision to launch a new party will be taken this Thursday, MaltaToday has learnt. Independent MP Marlene Farrugia will spearhead the new party, which she had described as being of centre-left inspiration. 

This comes after Farrugia’ yet unnamed party figured – for the first time ever - in MaltaToday’s latest survey, with 1.5% of respondents saying they would vote for the Independent MP’s embryonic new party. 

MaltaToday is informed that the core group will be taking a decision this Thursday on whether to officially launch the party and have it registered. 

Farrugia and the core group have been meeting for weeks in order to draw up a statute and define its political platform. 

The new party, which will be adding more colour to the political spectrum, will be using orange as its colour, MaltaToday has learnt. 

Traditionally, orange is the colour of the Christian Democrats but it has also been used by a variety of populist parties. 

In the UK, the colour was traditionally used by the Liberal Party, while in Northern Ireland the colour is associated with the unionists.

The colour is also used by the Dutch conservative liberal People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy. 

In Ukraine, orange was the colour of liberal groups that participated in the “Orange Revolution” led by Yulia Tymoshenko in the aftermath of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was marred by corruption and electoral fraud.

Where does new party stand?

Although Farrugia had publicly admitted that the new party will be of a centre-left inspiration, it remains to be seen how any new grouping will tackle issues like labour rights, civil liberties, and immigration. 

Although the sample of respondents who declared their intention to vote for the new party in MaltaToday’s May survey, a breakdown of Farrugia’s vote base by past voting intentions suggests that the new party is getting most of its support from past PN voters. 

Farrugia is thought to be the only established politician in the new party’s leadership and the MP has so far refused to reveal the identity of the other members of the core group, who have little or no political experience. 

In March, Alternattiva Demokratika deputy chairperson Carmel Cacopardo revealed that his party was involved in talks with Farrugia, supporting the creation of another third party that can challenge the Maltese duopoly.

But it is understood that the Greens broke off the talks after the new party’s ideological path remained unclear.