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. History Alternattiva Demokratika was founded in 1989 when former Malta Labour Party President Toni Abela and former Labour MP and Parliamentary whip Wenzu Mintoff joined a number of environmental activists to form the new political party. Abela and Mintoff had resigned their posts in protest at the presence of certain elements in the Labour Party tainted with political violence and corruption. For this Abela and Mintoff were expelled from the Labour Party. Mintoff retained his seat in Parliament and, between 1989 and 1992 was effectively an MP for the new party as well as its first Chairperson. Alternattiva Demokratika first stood for the 1992 national elections when it obtained 1.69% of first preference votes (their best result in a general election until 2013) and no seats. In the subsequent elections of 1996 and 1998 the Party's share of the vote declined. Following the 1998 result, Abela and Mintoff resigned and returned to the Labour Party (Abela was to be elected Labour's Deputy Leader in 2008). Harry Vassallo replaced Mintoff as Chairperson of the Party in 1999. In 2003 the party campaigned for a Yes vote in the referendum on membership in the European Union. In the election that year the Party obtained only 0.7% of first preference votes having campaigned for second preference votes in order to secure the earlier referendum result and Malta's entry into the European Union. In 2004 the party obtained a remarkable result in the European Parliament election with 9.33% of first preference votes cast and the party's candidate, Arnold Cassola narrowly failing to be elected as MEP. In the Maltese general election of 2008, the party increased its share of the vote to 1.31%. After ten years at the helm, Vassallo resigned as Chairperson and was replaced by Cassola. Barely a year later Cassola handed his resignation following the Party's poor showing at the European Parliament Election in June 2009. Cassola was replaced by Michael Briguglio in October 2009 but returned to the helm following Briguglio's resignation in