Four women and four men were elected to Parliament on Friday as the Labour Party filled eight seats through the casual election process following the general election.
The vacancies arose after several Labour MPs were elected from two electoral districts and were required to relinquish one of their seats. The Nationalist Party will undergo the same process on Tuesday.
The successful candidates were:
- Ramona Attard
- Naomi Cachia
- Rebecca Buttigieg
- Clint Azzopardi Flores
- Mariah Meli
- Alex Muscat
- Franco Mercieca
- Andy Ellul
The casual elections mark a return to Parliament for five of the elected candidates, including former parliamentary secretaries Rebecca Buttigieg, Andy Ellul and Alex Muscat.
For Mariah Meli, who last year became the Labour Party’s first mayor of Gฤงargฤงur, the election represents her first entry into Parliament. Economist Clint Azzopardi Flores will also take up a parliamentary seat for the first time after unsuccessfully contesting the 2024 European Parliament elections.
The results also signal the political comeback of Franco Mercieca, who resigned as parliamentary secretary in 2014 amid controversy over whether he could continue practising as an eye surgeon while serving in government. Mercieca was notably absent from the counting hall in Naxxar when the results were announced, as he was performing a surgical operation.
Meanwhile, sitting MPs Ray Abela and Romilda Zarb were unsuccessful in retaining their seats through the casual elections, although Zarb may still enter Parliament through the gender corrective mechanism.
The strong performance of female candidates in the casual elections could also reduce the need to activate the gender corrective mechanism to its full extent. The mechanism allows for up to six additional MPs from each of the two main parties to be elected in order to improve gender balance in Parliament. However, with four women elected by Labour through the casual elections and several other female candidates still in contention, it is increasingly likely that the maximum allocation of six additional seats per party may not be required.
Following the announcement of the results, Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Robert Abela congratulated the successful candidates in a Facebook post.
“I thank all the candidates, on behalf of the Labour Party, who campaigned in the general election so that we achieved a strong and historic mandate,” he said.
Labour was returned to government after securing a fourth consecutive term in office, winning 51.8% of the vote in the general election compared to the Nationalist Party’s 44.7%.
Photo credit: Timesofmalta.com, Chris Sant Fournier
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