[WATCH] PN, AD coalition talks hit brick wall after party name dispute

Coalition negotiations between the Nationalist Party and Alternattiva Demokratika have stalled after the parties failed to agree on a common party name and emblem under which the coalition will run.

The PN is insisting that AD candidates run on the PN ticket but with nicknames to distinguish them, a similar agreement to that which was formalised today with Marlene Farrugia's Partit Demokratiku.

However, the AD is insisting that all PN and AD candidates run under a completely different name to reflect the new coalition. 

"We believe that the name must reflect the diversity and pluralism within the coalition or else it will just be the PN," AD chairperson Arnold Cassola told the press following a meeting with the PN leadership at Azad's Valletta offices. “This is how coalitions take place all over the world."

He dismissed suggestions that the Green Party should bow their heads to the PN as it is a much larger party, drawing parallels with the Maltese national football team.

"If the Maltese football team has ten players from Hibs and one from Swieqi, it's still called Malta and not Hibs."

Cassola dismissed suggestions that AD will even consider entering a coalition with the Labour Party, due to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s refusal to sack minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri – implicated in the Panama Papers scandal.

“Joseph Muscat made an enormous mistake by deciding to retain them,” he said.   

However, he said he is “sceptical” whether Muscat should resign himself in the wake of reports that his wife owns an offshore Panama company, insisting that he will withhold such judgement until the evidence is published.

PN leader Simon Busuttil said that the PN agreed on the substance of the policies that AD had presented in a document, but that the PN will not budge from its stance that AD candidates should run on the PN ticket.

“This was a red line for both sides,” he said.

PN deputy leader Mario de Marco and his AD counterpart Carmel Cacopardo will continue holding negotiations to try and bridge the gap and reach a solution.

Earlier former AD chairperson Michael Briguglio augured the coalition, identifying two reasons; firstly, he claimed that corruption has undermined the Labour Party’s style of governance and thus, with AD joining the pre-electoral coalition, a democratic force would be created to defeat PL in the upcoming elections.

He added that as things stands, a coalition was the only way third party candidates can have the chance to get elected.

“Given that candidates from different parties will be on the same list, the 'wasted vote' preoccupation of many voters will be defeated, and votes for separate parties will not be split to Labour's advantage. This is because votes given to candidates from different parties but on the same party list will be counted together as one group,” he said.

Briguglio confirm that he will not be contesting the general elections himself, but will be assisting a coalition victory “for Malta's greater good.”

Back in 2003, the PN had offered AD a coalition that would have seen its then leader Harry Vassallo appointed Speaker. However, the talks collapsed over a dispute on the coalition’s name.