Alfred Sant
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| Alfred Sant | |
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| In office 1996 – 1998 |
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| President | Ugo Mifsud Bonnici |
| Preceded by | Eddie Fenech Adami |
| Succeeded by | Eddie Fenech Adami |
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| In office 1998 – 2008 |
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| Preceded by | Eddie Fenech Adami |
| Succeeded by | Charles Mangion |
| Constituency | 1st and 8th electoral divisions |
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| In office 1992 – 1996 |
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| Preceded by | Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici |
| Succeeded by | Eddie Fenech Adami |
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| Born | February 28, 1948 Pietà, Malta |
| Political party | Partit Laburista |
| Children | 1 |
| Residence | Birkirkara, Malta |
| Website | www.mlp.org.mt |
Alfred Sant (born February 28, 1948) is a Maltese politician. He was the leader of the Malta Labour Party from 1992 to 2008, served as Prime Minister of Malta between 1996 and 1998 and as Leader of the Opposition from 1992 till 1996 and from 1998 till 2008. He resigned his position of MLP leader on Monday 10th March 2008.
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[edit] Education
Sant graduated from the University of Malta as Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics in 1967 and as Master of Science in Physics in the following year. He studied public administration in 1970 at Institut International d'Administration Publique at the ENA in Paris and holds a Master of Business Management (with honors) from Boston University Graduate School of Management (specialising in international business and business policy) and a Doctor of Business Administration from Harvard University.
[edit] Career
Sant served as Second, and then First Secretary at the Malta Mission to the European Communities in Brussels between 1970 and 1975 when he resigned to undertake full-time studies in the USA. Between 1977 and 1978 on his return to Malta Sant served as advisor on general and financial management at the Ministry of Parastatal and People's Industries and between 1978 and 1980 he served as the Managing Director of Medina Consulting Group. Sant returned to the public sector in 1980 as Executive Deputy Chairman with the Malta Development Corporation.
[edit] Politics
Sant's first political post with the Malta Labour Party was as chairman of its Department of Information (1982-92). During this time he also served as President of the Party (1984-88). He served a stint as the editor of the Party weekly Il-Ħelsien (1987-88).
Sant first stood for election in 1987, however he was unsuccessful but was co-opted to Parliament later that year. In 1992 following the resignation of Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici he was elected Party leader.
[edit] 22-month government 1996-98
The Malta Labour Party (MLP) won the October 1996 elections under Sant who successfully campaigned for the removal of the Value Added Tax (VAT) that had been introduced in 1995. A year after taking office the MLP under Sant replaced VAT by a similar indirect tax, the Customs and Excise Tax (CET) which proved to be deeply unpopular.
Alfred Sant's tenure as Prime Minister lasted only 22 months. Enjoying only a one-seat majority the Government was vulnerable to threats from former Prime Minister and Labour leader Dom Mintoff. Things came to a head in the summer of 1998 when a row with Mintoff over a coastal concession to a private company resulted in Government being defeated over the motion transferring the land. Sant felt that, in the circumstances, the government's parliamentary majority was compromised and asked the President to dissolve the House. In the subsequent elections held in September 1998 the Malta Labour Party was defeated and returned into opposition.
[edit] 2003 Referendum and election
Dr Alfred Sant campaigned heavily against Malta's European Union membership. During the run-up to the March 2003 referendum, Sant was also critical of what he called a "sham referendum" insisting that a general election alone would settle the EU membership issue. He called on Labour supporters to either vote No, abstain or invalidate their vote. He himself abstained.
The Yes side won the referendum by a 54% to 46% margin but Sant claimed to have won the referendum as the Yes vote was less than half of registered voters. In view of the lack of consensus on the interpretation of the result, Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami asked the President to dissolve Parliament and call fresh elections. These were held in April 2003 and the Malta Labour Party was again defeated at the polls.
Sant tendered his resignation as party leader. He did, however, stand for election for Party leader again which was contested by two other candidates for the post, John Attard Montalto and Anġlu Farrugia. Sant was re-elected party leader with 66% of votes cast by Labour Party delegates and returned to lead the Party.
[edit] Maltese General Election, 2008
The Malta Labour Party, spearheaded by him, presented a new programme Pjan għal bidu ġdid (Plan for a new beginning) and called for Bżonn ta' Bidla (The need for a Change) after the 20 years (save for his brief stint from 1996 to 1998) of Partit Nazzjonalista government. The electoral-programme contained references to overhauls in the educational system (which proved to be extremely controversial), reduction of an electricity surcharge by half and tax holidays on overtime work.
Dr. Alfred Sant was defeated for the third consecutive time, this time by Dr. Lawrence Gonzi (Partit Nazzjonalista) in the 2008 general election. This election was lost by the MLP on a slim margin of 1580 votes, effectively wiping out the previous Nationalist majority, even if the MLP failed to seriously increase its voter backing. Following the loss of the election, Sant resigned as leader of the opposition on the 10th March 2008, and as party leader on the 5th June 2008. Regardless of this, Alfred Sant is expected to retain his Member of Parliament seat.
[edit] Literary and Journalism
Dr Sant is an established writer (of both novels and short stories) and playwright and has published several books. His published works include the collected plays Min Hu Evelyn Costa?, "Kwart ta' mija" -- a collection of short stories, the novels L-Ewwel Weraq tal-Bajtar, Silġ fuq Kemmuna, ”Fid-dell tal-Katidral” , “Qabel tiftaħ l-inkjesta” and "La bidu la tmiem". His non-fiction works include Bejgħ u Xiri, L-Impenn għall-Bidla, (a collection of essays) and the political chronicle "28 ta' April, 1958", "Malta's European Challenge" and the autobiographical "Confessions of a European Maltese".
Sant was also the editor Tomorrow, a monthly English language magazine (1982-1985) and of Society, a quarterly opinions magazine, apart from authoring numerous articles. Sant also contributed regularly to the General Workers' Union's Sunday, Maltese language newspaper It-Torċa until his Party's defeat at the polls in March 2008.
[edit] Illness
In December 2007 Sant was admitted to hospital where, it was later announced, he was treated for colon cancer. In January 2008 it was announced in a Labour Party conference that Alfred Sant was recovering well from surgery and was fit to remain leader of the MLP.
[edit] References
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Eddie Fenech Adami |
Prime Minister of Malta 1996–1998 |
Succeeded by Eddie Fenech Adami |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici |
Leader of the Malta Labour Party 1992–2008 |
Succeeded by Joseph Muscat |
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