After Promise To Step Down, Carmel Cacopardo Given One More Year In Charge Of ADPD
Carmel Cacopardo had promised to step down as ADPD leader in the wake of last March’s general election, but that pledge’s terms and conditions are now becoming clear.
At ADPD’s annual general meeting last weekend, Cacopardo – who has been in charge of the party and its predecessor AD since 2017 – was re-confirmed as the party’s chairperson and said the party must get ready for a year of “transition towards a new leadership”.
This is an unorthodox political move; to put it into perspective, it only took just over a month for Prime Minister Robert Abela and Opposition Leader Bernard Grech to take charge of the PL and the PN after announcing their intention to contest the leadership.
It means that Cacopardo will maintain the reins of the party for 20% of the current legislature, giving his eventual successor less time to shape the party in their image ahead of the next general election.
ADPD’s deputy chairperson Sandra Gauci has already publicly declared her intention to become the party’s next leader, stating she would like the party to develop a better ground game and set up its own headquarters.
ADPD deputy chairperson Sandra Gauci
Shortly after the election result was confirmed, Cacopardo wrote in a blog post that he doesn’t believe it is in the party’s interest for him to stay on as leader for “much longer”.
However, he added that he “won’t just pack up and leave” but help out in the transition to a new leadership.
ADPD won 4,747 votes at last March’s election, which was its first election since the traditional green party Alternattiva Demokratika merged with political newcomer Partit Demokratiku.
At the 2017 election, Alternattiva Demokratika could only muster 2,564 votes, while PD contested on the PN ticket and successfully elected two MPs, Marlene and Godfrey Farrugia.
The green party’s best-ever performance was at the 2013 election when AD won 5,506 votes.
Who do you think ADPD’s next leader should be?
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