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SAVIOUR BALZAN THE former Labour deputy lead- er and minister George Vella, 76, will be Malta's 10th President of the Republic, this newspaper has learnt. A senior government source told MaltaToday that the decision to appoint Vella, who left office as foreign minister in 2017 after de- ciding not to run in the snap elec- tions of that year, had been taken. "He is the right person for the job, and a respected figure," the source said. Initially reluctant to accept the offer, Vella was said to have now accepted the post and replace outgoing President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca when her term is up in April. Coleiro Preca was the second woman to be appointed to the post. Like Coleiro Preca, Vella belongs to a generation of Labour politicians who worked under all post-independence party leaders. Vella is considered to be a mentor to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, having actively supported his 2008 leadership bid against former co- deputy leader George Abela. Vella was deputy prime minister in the Alfred Sant administration of 1996-1998. A popular family doctor from Zejtun, he was first elected to parliament in 1976 and served in the House of Representatives un- til 2017. Though elected from the Labourite stronghold of Zejtun, which at one point was notorious for its loyalty to firebrand Wistin Abela, Vella was respected for his loyalty, moderate views and strong opposition to thuggery in politics. His first ministerial position was as foreign and environment minis- ter when he also served as deputy prime minister during the short Sant premiership. WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post WEDNESDAY • 30 JANUARY 2019 • ISSUE 623 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY EDITORIAL • PAGE 9 George Vella will be Malta's 10th President PAGE 3 PAGE 5 MASSIMO COSTA THE strategies employed by former PN leader Simon Bu- suttil to win power have hurt Malta's reputation, and af- fected the country's corrup- tion perceptions ranking, Robert Abela said. The Labour MP was asked about whether he felt it was worrying that Malta had reg- istered its sharpest decline in the Transparency Interna- tional's Corruption Percep- tions Index, which was pub- lished yesterday. He said that he didn't think the country's ranking was something to be ashamed of, but that the government had "taken note" of it. Labour MP blames Simon Busuttil for Malta's drop in corruption rating 5 SAVIOUR BALZAN THE former Labour deputy lead- er and minister George Vella, 76, will be Malta's 10th President of the Republic, this newspaper has learnt. A senior government source told MaltaToday that the decision to appoint Vella, who left office as foreign minister in 2017 after de- ciding not to run in the snap elec- tions of that year, had been taken. "He is the right person for the job, and a respected figure," the source said. Initially reluctant to accept the offer, Vella was said to have now accepted the post and replace outgoing President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca when her term is up in April. Coleiro Preca was the second woman to be appointed to the post. Like Coleiro Preca, Vella belongs to a generation of Labour politicians who worked under all post-independence party leaders. Vella is considered to be a mentor to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, having actively supported his 2008 leadership bid against former co- deputy leader George Abela. Vella was deputy prime minister in the Alfred Sant administration of 1996-1998. A popular family doctor from Zejtun, he was first elected to parliament in 1976 and served in the House of Representatives un- til 2017. Though elected from the Labourite stronghold of Zejtun, which at one point was notorious for its loyalty to firebrand Wistin Abela, Vella was respected for his loyalty, moderate views and strong opposition to thuggery in politics. His first ministerial position was as foreign and environment minis- ter when he also served as deputy prime minister during the short Sant premiership. George Vella will be Malta's 10th President PAUL COCKS FORMER Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil has told his parliamentary colleagues that he has no intention or as- piration to ever run for a par- ty position, MaltaToday has learned. Members of the PN parliamen- tary group told this newspaper that, in a five-hour meeting on Monday, the MPs had discussed the accusations brought up in December against current lead- er Adrian Delia. PN Parliamentary Group discusses state of PN and Delia's leadership Simon Busuttil dismisses possibility of running for leader