6 Tiie lllllta Independent on 5unday I 26 July 2020 'l1le lllllta Independent on SUdaJ I 2~ July 2020 7 News News Political party splits in Maltese his:ory: how the PN and MLP went through schism5in the past seats. Most of the CWP's members - including Pellegrini himself- re­ turned to the MLP.

·®ALBERTGAJ.EA Going Green: Wenzu Mintoff and Toni Abela split from As the rift within the PN contin­ Labour to form AD ues to edge towards the point of A more recent political split oc­ no-return, the possibility of the curred in 1989, resulting in the creation of a new political party creation of a political party from those rebelling against the which continues to exist today. PN's current leadership is enter­ In 1989, Presi­ ing the public discourse more dent Toni Abela and Labour and more. Party whip Wenzu Mintoff re­ Such a split would see the new signed from the party after tak­ party have 17 MPs and two ing a stand .against corruption MEPs, over the PN's 11 MPs and and politieal violence. no MEPs, becoming the biggest The duo founded a new, green party in the Opposition. However, political party splits are not unprecedented in Mal­ tese history. The Independent on Sun­ day looks back on Malta's politi­ cal history at four splits within political parties and their even- tual outcomes. ·

Dom Mintoff ousts the Prime Minister and Labour leader in 1947 Under the auspices of the brand-new MacMichael Consti­ tution in 1947, be­ came the ·first Maltese Prime Minister to have hailed from the Malta Labour Party.

Toni Pellegrini, centre, split off from the MLP to form the Christian Worker's Party (CWP), aiming to provide a viable alternative to the MLP 42% of the vote and 25 of the 50 seats on offer. Mintoff's MLP was This was nothing, though, com­ 40 managed to form a minority a new constitution - the Blood ble only through separation be­ next, winning 33.8% of the vote pared to the souring that would government - both Mintoff's Constitution - and the debate tween the State and the Church. and taking 16 seats. Both the CWP take place between Mintoff and MLP and Boffa's MWP obtained over what Malta's future should Gonzi meanwhile was alarmed at and the PDN won 4 seats - or Boffa. Boffa had failed in his at­ 11 seats. TI1e government would­ look like was rife. Mintoff's close stance with Com­ around 9% of the vote. Mabel Toni Abela tempts to get funding for a new n't last long: Prime Minister After the Break with Britain munist leaders, seeing it as a Strickland was the only member power station from the UK Nerik Mizzi died in office in De­ resolution some years earlier, threat to Catholic faith in Malta. of the Progressive Constitutional party called Alternattiva through the Marshall Plan - an cember 1950, and his successor which put an end to the ideas of Things came to a head hen on 8 Party to win a seat as the party Demokratika, with Mintoff staying American post-war recovery was forced integration with Britain April 1961, the Archbishop is­ won around 5% of the vote, while on in parliament as an AD MP and plan which Malta, being a colony, to call an election the following (Mintoff's preferred option) and sued a "personal interdict" on the Chevalier George Ransley's Dem­ as AD leader. was technically not eligible for - February. seeking status (Borg entire Labour Party executive, ocratic Christian Party won 699 AD first contested national elec­ and this Jed to further disdain The PN however had continued Olivier's preferred option), both making it a mortal sin to vote for votes, but nothing more than that. tions in 1992, when it obtained from Mintoff. to strengthen itself - it won 15 the PN and MLP believed that the party. The PN avoided having to enter 1.69% of first preference votes - When it became clear to Mintoff seats this time. With Mintoff complete independence was With this backdrop, two new po­ a coalition to form a majority gov­ which was nowhere near enough that Boffa was going to give in to winning 14 seats as the next now the only viable option for litical parties were created. ernment - Gozitan Coronato At­ to win a seat in parliament. the British, he reacted with a se­ biggest party, it fell to Borg Malta. Toni Pellegrini split off from the tard crossed the floor from the The results declined further in PaulBoffil ries of harsh telegrams to the Olivier to form a government. The PN wanted to attain inde­ MLP to form the Christian PDN to the PN, giving the PN a the 1996 and 1998 elections, lead­ Prime Minister, which were in This he did by, surprisingly, form­ pendence and then join the Com­ Worker's Party (CWP), aiming to one-seat majority. ing to Minto ff' s resignation from He had obtained a majority turn leaked to the media by ing a coalition with Boffa's MWP, monwealth whilst also provide a viable alternative to the Borg Olivier went on to secure the party leadership. even larger than that which the Colombo who wanted to make which had won 7 seats in the maintaining close ties with MLP which did not go against the independence for Malta in 1964. AD is yet to be elected to parlia­ Labour government currently Mintoff seem like a communist, election. Under the arrange­ Britain through the signing of a Church (Archbishop Gonzi in fact In the next election, neither the ment, with its best electoral result holds, with 59.9% of the elec­ and hence lose electability. ment, the MWP would have three financial aid and defS!nce treaty. endorsed the party) and which CWP nor the PDN (nor any other coming in the first European Par­ torate voting in his favour. It was The crisis continued to deepen seats in the Cabinet and Mintoff They were also in favour of join­ was also against the pursuit of in­ party for that matter) won any liament election in 2004. enough for 24 seats out of the 40 until October 1949, when the would be left in opposition. ing NATO and taking the side of dependence at this point in time, There, AD's only candidate - the on offer, with the Nationalist MLP's General Conference voted The coalitiol) was renewed the West in the Cold War that, at believing that Malta was not eco­ charismatic Arnold Cassola - ob­ · Party the next biggest political to remove Boffa from the party after another election in 1953, the time, was at its peak. nomically ready for it. tained 22,938 first-count votes, force with just 7 seats. leadership and replace him with where the PN won 18 seats and The MLP meanwhile wanted to The latter point was the same which equates to 9.33%. He was The Democratic Action Party Mintoff. the MWP won three, but that first attain independence and reason which saw a split inside eliminated at the last count. won four seats, the Gozo Party Boffa refused to take this lying government only lasted until then decide with whom to nego­ the PN. journalist HerbertGanado Malta at the time elected five won three, and the Jones Party down and continued to govern 1955. By then, the MWP had dis­ tiate for aid and defence issues. split off from the PN, creating the MEPs- had Malta's representation won two. with a minority government of appeared, and Mintoff's MLP They preferred to work on a sys­ Partit Demokratiku Nazzjonalista in the European Parliament been However, it would soon turn out 17 seats out of 40 - 6 of his MPs won 23 seats - enough to form a tem of neutrality with regard to (PDN). Ganado got into a number of six MEPs, as it is today, then Cas­ that the biggest source of trouble had defected to Mintoff. That government. international politics, rather than of arguments - some of which so la would have taken a seat in for Boffa's government was in its lasted until June 1950, when the joining either side of the Cold went public through the media - Brussels. own ranks. Internal fighting be­ Budget was rejected, leaving Independence, the Church War. with Borg Olivier over the point of Mintoff and Abela meanwhile tween Works Minister Dom Boffa to call an election.. prove to be the dividing factor Mintoff's MLP was however independence. both returned to the Labour Party, Min~off and Finance Minister He contested initially as the in 1962 caught up in a fight on another Out of six parties which con­ with the former becoming the edi­ Turu Colombo had been ongoing Boffa Labour Group, which later The 1962 election would see front - a social conflict with the tested the election, five success­ tor of the party's weekly newspa­ ever since Mintoff beat Colombo formally became the Malta not one, but two party splits, Church. Mintoff saw Archbishop fully made it into the legislative per Kullhadd, and the latter even to become the MLP's deputy Workers Party. with both the PN and MLP going Michael Gonzi as the biggest ob­ assembly. becoming the party's deputy leader, and the relations only de­ The big winner in all this was through their own divides. stacle to the modernisation of Jn an election with a 90% leader in 2008 - a post he held teriorated from there on in. the PN, and with 12 seats out of The election was the first under Malta, something he saw possi- turnout, Borg Olivier's PN won until 2016.