Arnold Cassola

Last updated
Arnold Cassola
Arnold Cassola 2023.jpg
Personal details
Born21 November 1953 (1953-11-21) (age 70)
Sliema, Malta
NationalityFlag of Malta.svg  Malta
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy
Political party Independent
(2019-present) [1]
Democratic Alternative
(1989–2019) [2]

Arnold Cassola (born November 21, 1953) is a Maltese and Italian independent politician, professor, author and editor of various books and academic papers. Cassola is a professor in Comparative Literature at the University of Malta. He has held elective office and political posts in Malta, Italy and at a European level. Cassola served as leader of Democratic Alternative from 2013 until 2017.

Contents

Maltese politics

Cassola was one of the co-founders in 1989 of Democratic Alternative, the green party in Malta. Between 1990 and 1997, he was the Party's delegate to the European Green Party (EGP). He unsuccessfully contested all national elections with the Party since 1992. Between 1994 and 1997, he served as local councillor in Swieqi. His best result in Maltese politics was in the 2004 election for the European Parliament when he obtained 9.33% (or 23,000 votes) of the first-preference votes, just failing to be elected one of Malta's five MEPs.

In July 2008, Cassola was elected Chairperson of the Party after the resignation of Harry Vassallo. In the second elections held in Malta for the European Parliament in 2009, Cassola stood as candidate once more together with another candidate for the Party, Yvonne Ebejer Arqueros. This time the Party polled only 2.34% of the vote. [3] In view of the result, Cassola resigned as Party Chairperson.

However, he remained active in the Party a spokesperson and unsuccessfully contested the 2013 general election. Party Chairperson Michael Briguglio resigned after this election and Cassola was voted again as party Chairperson until he resigned in 2017.

Cassola resigned from the party in February 2019 due to differences between himself and the Executive Committee on the issue of abortion. [4]

Arnold Cassola contested the 2024 European Parliament Elections as an independent candidate. His campaign which only started in the last 21 days of the electoral campaign was titled "Issa ċ-ċans / Now's the chance". [5] Cassola managed to earn 12,706 First Preference votes, and earned 22,941 votes in total. Despite falling short by around 2,000 votes from the Labour MEP Thomas Bajada, he celebrated the result as the best result of an independent candidate in 103 years, and started the process of forming a 'centre-left-green coalition' after seeing the enthusiasm of the people who helped in his campaign. [6]

European Green Party

Cassola was elected member of the Executive Committee of the European Green Party in 1997, eventually being elected Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the (EGP). In the latter post, he served between 1999 and 2006. Between 2001 and 2006, he was one of the three European representatives on the Global Greens Coordination. He has been a European Union electoral observer in various countries in Africa and South America, and editor of the official organ of the European Greens "Green Update" (since 1998).

Italian politics

In Italy, Cassola was a deputy in the Italian Chamber of Deputies elected by Italian expatriates in the Europe constituency with the left-right-centre coalition L'Unione between 2006 and 2008.

Honours

Cassola was made Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2003 by the Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green party</span> Political party based on green politics

A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Greens – The Green Alternative</span> Austrian political party

The Greens – The Green Alternative is a green political party in Austria. The Greens are in a coalition with the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) in the Nehammer government. Before they were part of the Schallenberg government and the Second Kurz government. The current President of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, is from the Green Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 European Parliament election</span> Election to the European Parliament

The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but elected national parties aggregated in European Parliamental parties after the elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Green Party</span> European political party

The European Green Party (EGP), also referred to as European Greens, is a transnational, European political party representing national parties from across Europe who share Green values.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Taylor (British politician)</span> British politician (1953–2022)

Keith Richard Taylor was a Green Party of England and Wales politician who was MEP for South East England from 2010 to 2019 and was the Party's animal rights spokesperson until his retirement in 2019. He was one of the two Principal Speakers of the party from August 2004 to November 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gianni Pittella</span> Italian politician (born 1958)

Giovanni Saverio Furio Pittella is an Italian politician who served as Leader of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Group from 2014 to 2018 and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Italy from 1999 to 2018. He previously served as First Vice-President of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Alternative (Malta)</span> Political party in Malta

Democratic Alternative, sometimes referred to as AD – The Green Party, was a green political party in Malta. The party was initially founded by a coalition of former Labour Party members and environmental activists in 1989. On 1 August 2020 the party announced a plan to merge with the Democratic Party to form a new party called AD+PD. The merger was conducted on 17 October 2020.

Harry Vassallo was the Chairperson of the Maltese Green political party, Democratic Alternative from 1998 till 2008. He was succeeded by Prof. Arnold Cassola.

An election of the delegation from Malta to the European Parliament was held on 6 June 2009, on the same day as the 2009 Maltese local council elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Maltese general election</span> 2013 election in Malta

General elections were held in Malta on 9 March 2013 to elect all members of the House of Representatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LMP – Hungary's Green Party</span> Hungarian political party

LMP – Hungary's Green Party is a green-liberal political party in Hungary. Founded in 2009, it was one of four parties to win seats in the National Assembly in the 2010 parliamentary election. It is a member of the Global Greens, and suspended member of the European Green Party.

This article lists the election results of the Green Party of England and Wales in the UK parliamentary, European parliamentary, London Assembly, and Senedd elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 European Parliament election in Italy</span>

The 2014 European Parliament election in Italy took place on 25 May 2014. Italy elected 73 MEPs out of 751 European Parliament seats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 European Parliament election in Malta</span>

The 2014 European Parliament election in Malta elected Malta's delegation to the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019. This was the third such election held in Malta. The elections were held on Saturday, 24 May 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Italia</span> Political party in Italy

Green Italia was a green political party in Italy.

The Democratic Party was a centrist to centre-left political party in Malta. It was founded in 2016 after a split from the Labour Party. It elected Malta's first two third party MPs for the first time since the country's Independence. In August 2020 the party announced an agreement to merge with the green Democratic Alternative party to form a new party called AD+PD. The merger was conducted on 17 October 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 European Parliament election in Malta</span> 2019 election of members of the European parliament for Malta

The 2019 European Parliament election was held in Malta on 25 May 2019. 8 different political parties took part in the election, of which, only 2 won seats in the European Parliament; the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party, with 4 and 2 seats respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carmel Cacopardo</span> Maltese politician

Carmel Cacopardo is a Maltese architect, civil engineer and politician who currently serves as deputy chairperson of the AD+PD party. Cacopardo previously served as chairperson of the Democratic Alternative party and served as chairperson of AD+PD until 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renew Europe</span> European Parliament political group

Renew Europe (Renew) is a liberal, pro-European political group of the European Parliament founded for the ninth European Parliament term. The group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group which existed during the sixth, seventh and eighth terms from 2004 to 2019, and under a variety of other names in earlier Parliaments. Renew Europe in the European Committee of the Regions is the sister group of Renew Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 European Parliament election</span> 10th European Parliamentary election

The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first European Parliament election after Brexit. A total of 720 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent more than 450 million people from 27 member states. This election also coincided with a number of other elections in some European Union member states.

References

  1. ↑ "Arnold Cassola resigns from Alternattiva Demokratika".
  2. ↑ "Arnold Cassola resigns from Alternattiva Demokratika".
  3. ↑ "Malta European Parliament Elections". Maltadata.com. 2009-06-06. Archived from the original on 2014-05-19. Retrieved 2014-04-08.
  4. ↑ "Cassola resigns from AD after 30 years, citing differences over abortion". Times of Malta. 2019-02-17. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  5. ↑ "Issa ċ-ċans indeed!". Times of Malta. 2024-06-12. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  6. ↑ "After his successful European foray, Cassola says time is ripe for new party". MaltaToday.com.mt. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  7. ↑ "Presidenza della Repubblica". Quirinale.it. Archived from the original on 2014-04-08. Retrieved 2014-04-08.
Political offices
Preceded by Chairperson of Democratic Alternative
2008 – 2009		Succeeded by
Michael Briguglio
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.