Alternattiva Demokratika has been part of Malta’s political scene for the past few decades, while Partit Demokratiku, although much newer, boasts two sitting MPs.

However, both parties have been overtaken in popularity by Norman Lowell’s Imperium Europa, according to a survey published on Sunday by MaltaToday.

Contacted by Lovin Malta, the leaders of AD and PD both had very clear opinions on who is to blame for this minor shift in Malta’s political landscape.

“This is the result of the large parties fuelling racism and xenophobia,” AD leader Carmel Cacopardo said. “[Prime Minister] Joseph Muscat used to speak about pushing back migrants and has now criminalised [search and rescue] NGOs. Meanwhile, [Opposition leader] Adrian Delia’s constant empty words against foreigners is only fuelling this reaction.”

Cacopardo said he wasn’t surprised in the slightest that his party has been overtaken in the polls by Lowell’s, noting that the anti-migrant politician only garnered 657 fewer votes than AD’s candidates combined in the 2014 European Parliament election.

“This has got nothing to do with shortcomings on the part of AD, it’s the fault of the big parties for fuelling xenophobia and racism in their speeches and in the way they express their ideas.”

Similarly, PD leader and MEP candidate Godfrey Farrugia attributed Lowell’s rise in the polls to “the shortcomings of the establishment”

“I attribute it to the shortcomings of the establishment, PNPL duopoly and to all those, including press, who choose to look the other way and disregard Norman Lowell’s mockery of religion, race and culture,” he said. “Moreover, his sexist and disrespectful remarks do not give justice to the democracy we are supposed to practice.”

“Sexism and racism are faces of the same coin,” Farrugia said. “Sexist remarks, even by certain media outlets, perpetuate racism.”

Lowell has caused quite a stir in this year’s European Parliament campaign, claiming only stupid Maltese people are having babies, advocating eugenics for newborn babies with disabilities and denying that the Holocaust ever happened, describing Auschwitz as “the Disneyland of Poland”.

However, his anti-African migrant sentiment is resonating with some sections of the public and the last MaltaToday survey polled him at 1.2%, a better result than both PD (0.8%) and AD (1%) and only two percentage points behind incumbent PN MEP Francis Zammit Dimech.

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]