AD Michael Briguglio’s dishonesty exposed: why he voted Labour in 2008 while he was an AD councillor
Alternattiva Demokratika and its activists and supporters have gone to war with me at every election since 2003 (this is the third one) because I argue that general elections are about choosing the government, not ideological self-indulgence, and that what we have to consider is not our whims but the outcome.
It is a fact that we have just two choices of government before us – Labour and Nationalist. So it follows that it is also a fact that if we prefer one to the other, then what we have to do is vote for it, not vote AD.
The only statement you make by voting AD is that you don’t give a damn who runs the country and how they do it, whether it’s Labour or the Nationalist Party. This is not something to boast about because it’s shallow.
How can you not care who governs Malta? How can you be indifferent?
Now, after 10 years of being mocked and derided by AD and its people because of these very arguments, I discover that AD’s own chairman, Michael Briguglio, agrees with me and does exactly the same thing I do. He doesn’t vote AD. He chooses the government.
In 2008, Michael Briguglio was not the AD chairman (Harry Vassallo was), but he was an AD politician and a Sliema councillor on the AD ticket.
Yet he knew that the choice was between a Labour government and a Nationalist government, and he preferred Labour, so that’s what he voted for: Labour. He didn’t vote for his own party, AD. He voted Labour.
This was while I was spending hours every night back then arguing on the internet with AD activists and supporters who were trying to influence people into voting AD and talking horseshit about coalitions. They called me all kinds of names, but guess what, Michael Briguglio knew I was right.
While Harry Vassallo and Michael’s current AD colleagues, Arnold Cassola and Carmel Caccopardo, campaigned for AD and bitched at me for saying that instead of voting AD we should be deciding who we would prefer to have in government and voting for them, MICHAEL BRIGUGLIO DID EXACTLY WHAT I SAID BECAUSE HE KNEW IT WAS TRUE.
He chose the party he wanted to govern and he voted for it: LABOUR. This AD politician, now AD chairman, voted Labour in 2008 precisely because he knows that AD’s arguments for a seat in parliament are false and manipulative, trading on people’s ignorance of the electoral system.
In our system, like in so many others, you vote to choose the government. If you’re not voting to choose the government, then why bother?
How ironic – AD’s activists rip me up for saying what I do, and then Michael Briguglio goes and does it.
You know what? He might well do the same again on Saturday. It’s a secret ballot, after all. If he thought nothing of choosing the government he wants and voting Labour in 2008 when he was an AD local politician, he’ll think nothing of doing the same now that he’s AD leader.
So remember that while you are being manipulated by AD into voting for them, their very own chairman is smarter than you are and not doing the same.
And please, AD, never say again that I am wrong about this. Your own chairman has confirmed that I was right all along.
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Tal-hartiet. ARGUMENT TAL-HARTIET.
How typically Maltese. “Jekk ahna f’pajjiz demokratiku, il-votant huwa hieles…”
It’s not your freedom that’s being questioned, you perfumed prat, but your political integrity. You’re either an imbecile, which I doubt, or you’re lying scum, just like the rest of them.
Tal-Ajkla onest iktar minnu, ghax ghallinqas se jivvota ghall-partit tieghu stess.
TAD-DAQQIET TA’ HARTA. MHUX TAL-HARTIET!
Xorta.
U dan jghallem fl-MCAST? Dan ghadu tfal f’mohhu! Tal-misthija!
Sorry Konrad, I’m gonna quote you: Shame on you, Briguglio!
Dan kien qed ipejjipha qabel ma mar ghal dal-programm?
I like the argument that this is a democratic country, so one is free to vote as one likes.
I am in fact expecting Joseph Muscat to declare that he will vote for Lawrence Gonzi
Politicante di mestiere.
After a declaration like this, AD should do the honourable thing and retract their candidature as a party in these elections.
They have confirmed what we have been saying for the last 15 to 20 years. They are nothing but a waste of time and they were more useful to the country when their role was that of a pressure group.
Maghhom taf fejn qieghed… in PL’s pocket. AD is what you get when you blend weed and Karl Marx with a pinch of Dom.
Reminds me of a certain party: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=444043368998611&set=a.433964043339877.91729.433956373340644&type=1&theater
So according to Briguglio you can be a floater until you become the Mexxej of a Partit and only then are you no longer a floater. How can he say that and keep a straight face? Talk about betrayal.
He was an AD activist and councillor and he himself didn’t vote AD but Labour. The fact that he voted Labour tells you a lot about his forma mentis. In this alone he has shown poor judgement.
AD is being used by Labour to get the PM they want and it cannot ever be Briguglio. I wonder what deal muscat signed with them? He signed one with the hunters so why not AD?
I was going to give number 3 to AD as Arnold Cassola is in my district and I admire the man, however I am now going to give my vote from 1 to last candidates of the PN only.
AD are, and have always been, useful idiots. Norman Lowell was right about that at least.
Since he voted Labour, it means he IS Labour. So AD is just a coverup. People must be warned that if they vote for AD, they are voting Labour.
TO GET A PN GOVERNMENT, GIVE YOUR NUMBER 1 VOTE TO A PN CANDIDATE AND TO NO ONE ELSE.
The party which gets the largest number of number 1 votes will win the election.
X’jimpurtani x’taghmel il-familja tieghek, tridx ghalija kienu jivvutaw lil Spiru Sant !
Ivvutaw lil-Alternattiva u jkollna gvern tax-xellug.Ma tantx hemm fejn iddur.
Dak li jigri meta erbgha t’iqlafat f’partit bi ftit membri ihallu lil xi hadd bhal Michael itellaq wahdu ghat-tmexxija tal-partit, minghajr ma jgharblulu l-passat.
Waqghet maskra ohra!
An aside.
The Times is not reporting the resumption of Labour Party thuggery after Sunday meetings in Hamrun or on the Gozo ferry lest its readers become aware of the truth that nothing has changed.
@ae, you are right.
The Green Party are just like green tomatoes, they eventually turn red!
Vot lil AD vot mitluf qiesek ivvutajt tal-Ajkla.
Kieku jitla deputat haga impossibbli kieku jkollna krizi politika. Mhux bizzejjed kellna l-Franco Debono ikollna iehor jew nilghab jew inhassar.
Ahjar il-poplu joqghod attent f’din il-krizi li d-dinja qatt ma rat bhala ghandna xorti ghadni mixjin tajjeb.
Mhux zmien tal-bdil tad-direzzjoni. Nistu nirrangaw id-dar minghajr ma nibdlu d-dar. Fejn qeghdin nafu fejn inkunu ma nafux. Jien mhux se jghid mia culpa.
Mela fejn qedin tan-NET TV? Jaqaw dan il-blog ma jarawhx? Jekk AD jikkampanjaw biex jiehdu voti tal-PN kif affarijiet bhal dawn ma jixxandrux waqt l-ahbarijiet?
And on top of all that, he was a useless university lecturer as well. No heart, no conviction, just dryly reading through a set of poorly written notes and slides.
Right were he belongs: PL’s pawn like JPO, cheapskate Debono and unhappy Mugliett.
What’s the fuss?
What you all are talking about is a past election,, it’s over and done with. Why are you trying to scrape bits and pieces from the past as long as you swipe away anyone who opposes your conservative 100-year old opinions?
So what he voted labour, he is the founder of Zmienijietna a left-leaning movement and has been active in Moviment Graffiti which is also a left leaning movement. Everyone knows that the foundations of the Greens are more left-wing oriented…so what? That’s their basis ideology, and if you do not agree with them, try coming up with arguments on why you don’t agree with them instead of accusing Dr.Briguglio of being a liar.
[Daphne – There is no point in arguing about AD’s electoral programme because you can’t implement anything with a single seat in parliament, and no, not even in a coalition. Ask Nick Clegg. And he had a lot more than one seat. As for the rest, perhaps your mate Michael could start by telling people that he’s not left but extreme left, hence Zmienijietna. His tal-pepe fans might not be so impressed.]
‘ the foundations of the Greens are more left-wing oriented…’
Utter rubbish, Greens have their roots in esoteric Nazism.
They are to all intents and purposes, an outdated ideology, stripped of all support they had in the 90’s. Going for red is just textbook transformation to survive.
They’ve been the sole cause why Europe’s energy crisis is in the state it’s in, with their lobbying for technology which distorted research into the energy mix, and holding back the real renewable infinite resource.
The inverted snobbery and condescending patronage of the lifestyle is a measured factor why the technology and its products have been shunned.
I don’t drive a small car to make a statement, but because it’s inherently better. What I won’t ever be seen in, is a Noddy car with a Fisher Price interior.
Where was AD when Labour set out to destroy the transport reform?
I’m not sure why we speak of left and right in Malta. The PL is not a left-leaning party and the PN is not a right-leaning party.
The PL is a party which has no idea of what democracy is.
The PN is a centre left party that often veers too much to the left.
2 points: “Make History”. As if making history is always something positive. Hitler and Mussolini made history too.
“Ridt gvern xellugi”. I did not watch all this interview but I remember Dr. Briguglio stating this. I’d like him to point out where the “xellugi” is in Labour.
Alternattiva and Michael Briguglio are just another cog in Joseph Muscat’s machine to get a fake to run this country. As election day approaches the mask is flaking off.
Of course it is…..because it makes so much sense to run for a party which has never elected a seat in parliament and have the interest of the bigger party at heart…..yes makes perfect sense
I fail to understand how such an important fact has not yet appeared in the media.
[Daphne – This is ‘the media’, Nicholas. But I know what you mean.]
Also why has it not yet been raised when AD top officials are on TV debates.
[Daphne – It was raised this morning. And on TVHemm, as you can see here.]
The people need to know these facts especially those who intend to vote for AD.
Where’s your article in 1991 about the need of a third party in parliament?
[Daphne – Probably filed with the article describing Eddie Fenech Adami as a villager lawyer in a folder called ‘Mistakes I made at 25’. There are a lot of them. Fortunately, I had the good sense not to persist in error.]
I presume that one need not ask whom an AD member of parliament, if one were to be elected, would support in parliament.
Or, to whom AD voters are being influenced to pass their No 2 preference.
@Evarist Saliba
Were a representative from AD be elected, one would hope (and expect) that they would support their constituents.
The order of consideration and importance for all politicians should be:
1. Constituents
2. Country
3. Self
Anyone who thinks otherwise is no servant of the people and should be shunned.
Hunting, immigrants, MEPA and Delimara, so what?
As long as AD gets our money, we’ll watch history being made as each of the above is sold to Labour.
Public financing to do away with the ‘principles’ supposedly their monopoly. All in the name of being ‘responsible’.
Behold the initial stages of the degenerate perverse mechanism which stiffled Italy for decades.
The two major parties need to study the introduction of a national quota to enter parliament.
It’s how Italians managed a modicum of order, doing away with extreme left and right groups. AD in this configuration and with the current policies, corresponds to the extreme left.
Are we willing to risk an extreme right in parliament as well? He will come forward if AD are elected, it will be a ‘natural’ calling.
It will happen.
AD – Labour in disguise.
Dan iehor bhal Deborah Schembri bla principji u jivvutaw kif jaqblilom u mhux vera ghal bidla.
This guy’s good entertainment, isn’t he.
It’s good that these reckless idiots are being exposed for what they are. Let’s hope they stay under 1%.
I do believe, though, that Malta needs an alternative to Labour or Nationalist, irrespective of governability.
We must admit that there a lot of issues that neither of the big parties can afford to discuss.
It’s just an impression, but those who fancy voting AD come across as being determined not to vote Labour for obvious reasons.
At the same time, I can’t help feeling that their shuffling of feet to vote Nationalist mainly stems from an inability to stomach the fact that PN governments have always been successful.
Warped thinking, but there you go. They lumber around, HUGE chip on the shoulder ala’ Labour, and pretend it’s not there.
Voting AD to remain aloof, or because it’s some cool fad like Zumba or Pilates and distancing oneself from the mere mortals who want to vote for realistic governance just doesn’t cut it either.
Pardon the simplistic analogy, but general elections are not the World Cup finals, where one can afford to support an obscure team of underdogs that happen to be playing against traditionally successful rivals.
Football allows this, it’s a bit of fun, but in other contexts it’s just spineless.
Spiritualism, Daily Buddha, 70’s rock, meditation, alternative medicine, anything to avoid ‘sophistry’.
Huge chip on their shoulder? Make that a dogged determination to misfit otherwise lost.
They were on the sofa biting their nails seeing Jason Micallef flash his teeth around the counting hall.
I think that Martin Scicluna is a bigger hypocrite. After years of deriding as ‘racists’ those genuinely concerned about the possible effects of large-scale irregular immigration on our country, he now openly joins the ranks of Norman Lowell followers publicly acclaiming Joseph’s Labour Party.
Re Briguglio, that Briguglio is a self-serving anarchist/Marxist opportunist.
Let’s float from AD to PN…..
Gesu lliberana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft7axb4E0w8&feature=youtube_gdata_player
http://maltatoday.com.mt/en/blogsdetails/blogs/My-positive-vote
LOL article on choosing AD. Apparently the chatter on gay marriages and hunting are the major forces for this election and the economic implosion the globe is experiencing. Apparently having “clean” companies is more important than having jobs.
“In our system, like in so many others, you vote to choose the government. If you’re not voting to choose the government, then why bother?”
Geez and they used to say that labourites are stupid. A government can be made up of:
a) one party
b) more than one party (coalition)
[Daphne – Oh indeed. And I’m the one who’s stupid. Do you actually know how to calculate outcomes? How the electoral system works? Let’s see now. We have every poll showing that Labour has a massive lead, and you’re talking about coalitions? Parties with a massive lead form the government ALONE, whether a third party gets a seat or not. For AD to enter into a coalition, it has to strip votes from both main parties in equal numbers and in such a way that this is reflected to give them an equal number of seats, leaving AD’s one seat to hold the balance of power. And the likelihood of that happening is…let’s see now…about the same as my living-room sofa winning at tennis. Start stripping votes from Labour and then maybe we’ll talk. But even then, if you think a coalition is somehow desirable, you’re pretty much alone. Desirable for who, exactly? The minority party involved? It’s certainly desirable for no one else. I look at Britain and I weep: two years of hell. And I mention Britain only because when I mention Italy you jump down my throat.]
It is obvious that AD, even in the unlikely scenario of electing ALL their candidates (9), cannot govern by themselves. So AD cannot be a one-party government, agreed. However, with a result similar to the 2008 election but with an additional Green seat, AD would be in a coalition government.
[Daphne – And how would we benefit from this? You know, I really cannot stand people who see things only from their own narrow perspective. You want a seat for AD because you want a seat for AD, and not because it’s best for the country or for the system of government.]
A vote for PNPL will translate to more of the same, a majoritarian, winner-takes-all government, with too much power concentrated in few hands and the possibility of the people in government to ride roughshod over anyone.
[Daphne – What half-assed reasoning. An elected government is an elected government. It is put there by PEOPLE. Your portrayal of majority governments as dictatorships is puerile and tedious. And your rational powers are skewed. This is your logic: to avoid concentrating power in the hands of a majority party, let’s give the balance of power to somebody with a single seat. U halluna tridux. This is the thinking which underlies your view: 33 people in a majority party can’t be trusted because they’re Evil Fat Cats, but one man from AD with his single seat can be trusted implicity with what you are now encouraging people to call ‘the casting vote’, because people in AD are pure and simple and above such things. I hate to strip the blinkers from your eyes, but going on the available evidence, the leading lights of AD are even weaker and more vulnerable than most: look at Harry Vassallo, running off with John Dalli the Corrupt; look at Arnold Cassola, running off to take advantage of his Italian passport to become an Italian MP, and look at Michael Briguglio…well, never mind. Some things are private.]
A vote for AD will translate in a pluralistic parliament that seeks consensus – one in which power is shared. A coalition government offers checks and balances which a one-party government can never achieve.
Daph, I hope you don’t mind calling you that – but you’re going hysterical. Calm down, relax and let the people vote as they wish. I was going to vote just for AD because as I said, I prefer a consensus democracy rather than a majoritarian one, but to be honest, after having a chat with you, I’m convinced that I will be cross-party voting and for the first time I will be giving my ‘2’ to PL.
[Daphne – Hmmm. A liberal and progressive male AD/Labour voter calling a woman hysterical. So let me quote a famous Conservative: “Calm down, dear.”]
I am. Thanks for caring though. Just ‘liberal’ would do fine.
For your info, I have never voted neither AD nor Labour. I won’t go in the details of my ‘swing’ to AD as you seem convinced that a majoritarian democracy works better than a consensus one and you seem to know better than me what the popular vote translates to in a SMPS vs a STV electoral system.
And you also seem to forget that successful countries like Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, etc all have a multi-party system and coalitions.
[Daphne – That’s the way they started out. If you had to try to force a switch to a two-party oppositional system, it wouldn’t work and they wouldn’t want it. Do you see anyone complaining out loud that the two-party system in the United States is wrong or undemocratic or ‘majoritarian’? No, you don’t. And Britain, which had a coalition foisted upon it, will probably vote next time around to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen again. I’m curious, though – where did you get this idea that having many parties and a coalition government is somehow better than a government/opposition system and no coalition?]
Voting AD is tantamount to voting Labour by proxy.
It amuses me OVER AND OVER AGAIN how people can be so blinded by comments and not think for themselves.
He might have voted Labour because at that time it was for the better of the country and might be that AD was not promising to be as fruitful as it is promising to be today!
[Daphne – You complain that people can’t think and then you do the same yourself. Michael Briguglio was an AD politician who voted Labour rather than AD, and you seek to justify it on these spurious grounds? If he thought Labour was better, then he should have been with Labour, not AD. And do you know what? I think he actually does believe that Labour is better, but AD is a more convenient stamping ground.]
It is pretty clear that AD have come out full swing this election to prove their point and offer an alternative for people (like myself) who are sick and tired of the usual dirty trashing politics!
[Daphne – You’re a great advertisement for people who vote AD, I must say. Tal-ghageb.]
If you are a gay pothead who does not give a f*ck about job creation, education, health and the ever-increasing expenditure on social welfare, you will love this article:
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/blogsdetails/blogs/My-positive-vote
I don’t understand why Briguglio voted Labour. Nor do I quite understand why he made his decision public. It’s not like Maltese politicians are usually held up to such standards.
However, quite ironically, he’s the only one preaching fiscal responsibility in Malta. He’s spot on about the income tax reduction. When he speaks publicly he doesn’t address the lowest denominator in the room like Gonzi and Muscat do. A lot of what he says resonates with the more enlightened (and maybe a bit idealistic) university-educated 20-30 year olds who have been brought up to give a toss about the environment and who are quite insulted by the tablet schemes promised by both parties.
I don’t even like Briguglio that much, I used to know him when we were kids, we played music in the same circles. He comes from a very privileged background and like many leftist academics can be very gauche caviar at times.
Believe me, I’d much rather vote for a technocrat based centre-right party, similar to that of the recently-elected Nicos Anastasiades in Cyprus, but we don’t have anything close to that. Instead, we have two big parties, who have eschewed ideology to win votes, and a small party, who although are probably closet communists, seem to know their stuff.
If he gave a toss about the environment and debt he would have shot down Delimara no questions asked.
If the Tobin tax is the work of someone who knows his stuff, I despair.
The Tobin tax is not a black or white issue. There are good arguments on either side as to whether it’s good or not. I’m not sure why you think it’s such an obvious decision.
Come on, even I can see the good aspects of the Tobin tax, and a fair chunk of my income comes from consulting for high-freq. traders.
Introducing it as a matter of principle isn’t. What social justice?
Stunting any potential investment simply because Mario Malia seems partial to the deconstructed image of the spanner wielding worker backlit by a blast furnace?
People at a desk make for sustainable pensions, can work everywhere reducing traffic and produce potentially unlimited added value. One computer each and a water dispenser per room. Green.
And what’s the talk anyway, it’s the only thing both major parties won’t go into.
I’m in favour of a Tobin tax, but it seems I’m a member of a tiny minority in Malta. I’m also in favour of higher income tax for high income earners. Because I’m a capitalist, not an oligo-conservative.
But that’s beside the point. Briguglio is a true member of the Hubris Club.
Erm, ok, let’s have it around the planet first.
Capital is concentration of resources, Malta’s the ideal size.
What happened?
I thought you liked Michael a lot? What happened?
[Daphne – I take exception to this kind of behaviour.]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fWvXkNqHXM
Dan l-ahhar il-PL tghidx kemm tkaza u attakka d-deputat tal-PN Spiteri ghax qalu jigi minn Gonzi u ma iddikjarax. Haga li kien ghamel wara. Issa r-rizulta minn din il-lista li hemm deputati tal-PL ukoll li ghadhom ma iddikjarawx.
Veru inkredibbli tal-PL iridu pulizija wara bieb haddiehor imma mhux wara biebhom. Veru ma jafux jisthu!
inewsmalta.com has thought it wise to report that Laburisti are going to clairvoyants to put their mind at rest that their self-proclaimed Moviment will win next Saturday’s elections.
Unfortunately, it seems, they are not receiving the answer they paid for. Reassuringly, the author of the online article argues that:
M’għandniex xi ngħidu li xi Laburisti inkwetaw. Iżda, oħrajn tgerfxu, għax insew jistaqsuhom jekk kienx il-blu tan-Nazzjonalisti jew l-ingravata ta’ Joseph Muscat.
This is absolutely horrifying. Going to clairvoyants is manifestly the anathema of critical, creative and independent thinking.
I shudder when I think that these people will have their democratic representatives ruling our country. This, in my humble opinion, is all due to so many years of Mintoffian paternalism, oppression and bad education which have moulded generations of gullible people who, in the second decade of the 21st century, still idolise a ‘fearless leader’, believe in fortune-telling and do not question Labour’s lies.
The articles’s accessible at http://www.inewsmalta.com/dart/20130305-tax-xorti-jaraw-il-blu
Thank you, Daphne
The fact that Briguglio voted for MLP in 2008 indicates that he was not comfortable voting for his own party.
That to me is weird. He should have led by example.
It also tells me that he will probably vote with Labour in Parliament if he gets a seat there.
So thank you AD, but no thank you. I’m not going to give someone my vote and risk that happening.
We had enough shenanigans from the likes of Franco Debono and Pullicino Orlando in the last five years, and we could do without them in the next five years.
Mela irid partit xellugi jew hu floater? Iddeciedi.
U xellugi ivvota lil Alfred Sant? Hsibt li Sant kellu inqas kuxjenza socjali mil PN ta bahnan li jien.
Then why do people like Claire Bonello, James Debono and Jacque Zammit support and campaign for AD. Do they have a hidden agenda?
Not enough people are aware that an AD vote will elect Labour to government by default. I’ve spoken to about 30 people re this yesterday. Type: degree/ age 27 – 56. They all need convincing at length.
My colleague is experiencing the same reaction from 18 – 35 year olds.
From 40 mins talk all you want to comment about is what party he voted for 5 years ago? In my opinion he talked well about all the discussed issues and Malta is really in need for this type of politicians in order to move forward.