Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1463105
3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 30 MARCH 2022 NEWS 2022 ELECTION Piccinino clarifies PN statute on how double-constituency seats will be vacated Casual elections expected to bring new faces to Labour parliamentary group PAUL COCKS & KURT SANSONE THE Nationalist Party had ap- proved a series of amendments to its statute in July last year, including a clarification of the clause that determines which seats double-constituency can- didates shall vacate, according to Michael Piccinino. In a communication to election candidates on Tuesday, seen by MaltaToday, the PN Secre- tary-general said Clause 116 of the statute was amended so that the vacated seat will be on the district where the candidate ob- tained the lowest number of first count votes expressed as a per- centage of the district quota. However, the statute available on the PN's website seen earlier by this newspaper was still not adjourned to reflect the change in wording and it appears that neither was the PN aware of this yesterday when it issued a state- ment on the matter. The old version of the stat- ute approved in June 2020 and which is the one available on the party website contains an am- biguous clause on how elected candidates will vacate the dou- ble-constituency seats. The 2020 statute stated that MPs elected on two districts would have to vacate the seat with "the lowest percentage of votes in the count in which they are elected." It did not specify on what basis the percentage will be calculated – whether this will be as a percentage of the party's share of the votes, the district quota or any other basis. In a first statement issued on Monday the PN simply quoted the 2020 statute but in a correc- tion to that press statement, the party later clarified that the cal- culation would be based on the candidate's first count as a per- centage of the district quota. When contacted for comment, former secretary-general Fran- cis Zammit Dimech, who was responsible for the new statute, admitted that he had to seek clarification on the wording of the clause. Now that Piccinino has clarified that the decision will be based on the first count vote expressed as a percentage of the district quota, the seven candidates who were elected on two districts will have to give up the following seats: Stephen Spiteri – 3rd District Mark Anthony Sammut – 10th District Bernard Grech – 5th District Ryan Callus – 7th District Adrian Delia – 7th District Joe Giglio – 9th District Robert Arrigo – 9th District LUKE VELLA NEW faces are expected in the Labour Party's Parliamentary group, as the party prepares for the casual elections to fill nine seats that will be vacated by those elected on two districts. Nine Labour Party candidates have been elected from two districts in the 2022 election; Prime Minister Robert Abela, Clyde Caruana, Chris Fearne, Owen Bonnici, Miriam Dal- li, Ian Borg, Silvio Schembri, Clifton Grima and Michael Falzon. A casual election would be held up in the district of the seat they decide to give up, with all of the non-elected can- didates eligible to contest. So far from those eligible, only former Foreign Affairs Minister Evarist Bartolo has announced his intention to retire from poli- tics, and would therefore not be submitting his nomination for the casual election. Robert Abela and Clyde Caru- ana can both choose to give up their seat on the second dis- trict.The candidates that fared the best on the final count were James Grech, veteran Joe Miz- zi, former MPs Oliver Sciclu- na and Glenn Bedingfield and Amanda Spiteri Grech. Chris Fearne and Owen Bon- nici are free to give up their seats on the third distric. Alicia Bugeja Said, former MP Jean Claude Micallef, Ray Abela, James Grech and Joe Mizzi are potential candidates. The fourth district has a possible vacant seat, that of Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne. Oliver Scicluna, Katya De Giovanni and Amanda Spi- teri Grech would lead the bat- tle in this casual election. The three seats of Robert Abe- la, Miriam Dalli and Owen Bon- nici could be released. As per the final count; Omar Farrugia got the most votes followed by Joseph Sammut, Jean Claude Micallef and Gianluca Cutajar. Former Economy Minister Silvio Schembri and former Transport Minister Ian Borg have been elected on both the sixth and seventh districts. On the sixth, the favourites are former MP Rosianne Cuta- jar, Malcolm Paul Agius Galea, Omar Farrugia and Katya De Giovanni. A casual election on the seventh would set up a newcomer to Parliament with Malcolm Paul Agius Galea, Ali- cia Bugeja Said, Naomi Cachia and Chris Grima being eligible. Former Finance Minister Clyde Caruana's seat on the eight district could be taken up by Cressida Galea, Oliver De Gaetano or Felix Galea Busuttil. Former Ministers Clifton Gri- ma and Michael Falzon were both elected on the ninth and tenth districts. A casual election on the ninth district would have a sole contender, Rebecca Butt- igieg. In order of their final vote tal- ly, the favourites for the tenth district would be Rebecca Butt- igieg, Felix Galea Busuttil, Dar- io Vella and Darmian Spiteri. Evarist Bartolo would have been considered a clear favour- ite for the seat, but he will not be contesting. Former Energy Minister Mir- iam Dalli's seat on the eleventh district could be filled by for- mer MP Anthony Agius De- celis or Romilda Baldacchino Zarb. Who will give up what?