Lovin Malta withdraws political party application, starts crowdfunding for ‘ideas campaign’

Lovin Malta has formally withdrawn its application to register as a political party, while launching a crowdfunding appeal to translate its manifesto into action

Lovin Malta's prank for April Fool's Day included submitting an application with the Electoral Commission
Lovin Malta's prank for April Fool's Day included submitting an application with the Electoral Commission

Lovin Malta has formally withdrawn its application to register as a political party but has launched a crowdfunding appeal to raise funds for a nationwide “campaign for change”.

On 1 April, Lovin Malta’s April Fool’s prank was meant to fool its followers into believing that it was going to become a political party.

The social news site went to great lengths in doing so, drafting an electoral manifesto with 52 proposals and releasing a music video – in a style reminiscent of Hillary Clinton’s Our Flight Song – to reveal that it was, in actual fact, a joke.

The website, however, also submitted an application to the Electoral Commission, with the intent to register itself as a political party. On Monday, the Electoral Commission said that it would not be dismissing the application as a prank, but would follow through the normal procedure.

On Wednesday, Lovin Malta issued a statement, saying that it had withdrawn its application in order to “not waste the Electoral Commission’s time during the run up to an election, when it is already busy investigating the donation practices of both major political parties.”

“We have no intention of contesting the election. We only applied to become a political party to make our April Fool stunt more credible - and it worked,” a Lovin Malta spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that due to the public’s response to its manifesto, Lovin Malta decided to set up a crowdfund to promote its ideas.

“We are looking to raise at least €2,000 to launch a nationwide campaign that promotes our key ideas. Depending on how much we raise, we could do anything from setting up our most popular billboard to creating our first re-greening project,” the spokesperson said.

“This is the time for people to put their money where their mouths are. If they really want to change the political system, they should support initiatives that have the potential to bring about the change they wish to see.”

Among key proposals, Lovin Malta wants to restructure democracy for the digital age, legalise marijuana, put all government transactions and contracts online and promote the increase of ODZ land through the re-greening of built areas, as well as promoting a raft of national clean-up initiatives. 

Lovin Malta began as an online publication in April 2016 and has since amassed more than 70,000 followers on social media and a regular average monthly audience of 300,000 unique users.