Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1526669
12 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 SEPTEMBER 2024 Labour Party overwhelmingly endorses Ian Borg, Alex Agius Saliba as deputy leaders Alex Sciberras is new party president after beating Norma Saliba by 14 votes • John Grech is international secretary after comfortably beating Georvin Bugeja IAN Borg was confirmed as the Labour Party's deputy leader for parliamentary affairs, obtaining 95.8% of delegates' votes in the party's internal election. Borg automatically becomes Malta's deputy prime minister, a post that has been vacant since June when Chris Fearne resigned after he was charged in the Vitals case. Borg was the only candidate for the post of deputy leader for par- liamentary affairs but still required a confirmatory vote. Out of the 721 votes cast, 678 party delegates voted in his favour, with 30 voting against and 13 ab- stentions. Borg is expected to remain for- eign minister. A similar strong result - 92.3% - was obtained by MEP Alex Agius Saliba, who was the only candi- date for the post of deputy leader for party affairs. He will remain an MEP. In comments shortly after the results were announced yesterday, the newly-elected deputy leaders thanked party delegates for their strong vote of confidence, while pledging "total loyalty" to Prime Minister Robert Abela, the leader of the Labour Party. "The result humbles me," Borg said, adding that together with Robert Abela and Alex Agius Sal- iba he will strive to deliver the best policies. Agius Saliba said he will be work- ing to harness the party's resourc- es and energy to ensure that it re- mains a dynamic political force. In a post on Facebook, Abela congratulated Borg and Agius Sal- iba on the result and said he was focused on the future and his par- ty's "continuous renewal." The votes for deputy leaders were the first to be counted on Saturday after Labour Party delegates cast their votes in internal elections. Alex Sciberras in razor-thin victory for party president Alex Sciberras won the contest for the post of Labour Party pres- ident with 51% of the vote, edging out Prime Minister Robert Abe- la's handpicked candidate, Norma Saliba, by the slimmest of margins - just 14 votes. Sciberras was the first Labour mayor of Msida and is the son of late judge Philip Sciberras. He takes over from Ramona Attard. In the other contest for the post of international secretary, John Grech obtained 57.6% of the vote to beat Georvin Bugeja, who ob- tained 42.4%. Other posts on the party admin- istration were uncontested. Louis Gatt will remain vice president, William Lewis will remain organ- isational secretary and Catherine Fenech secretary of the executive. Voting started on Friday evening and ended on Saturday at 2pm. Shortly after, the party's elector- al commission announced that out of the 775 delegates eligible to vote, 721 cast their ballot for a turnout of 95.1%. Vote counting took up most of the afternoon at the party head- quarters in Hamrun. The changes in the party's ad- ministration come one the back of a dismal showing in June's Eu- ropean election, which saw the PL win with a greatly reduced major- ity. Delegates also elected 12 mem- bers of the executive. The conference, now presid- ed by newcomer Alex Sciberras, is expected to close on Sunday morning with a keynote address by Robert Abela. In her final address to the Labour Party's general conference on Fri- day, the former president, Ramo- na Attard called for unity within the party, and for the party to be "one team against those who want to halt progress in our country." She controversially also called for the reinstatement of criminal libel and higher penalties for libel. On the other hand, Labour's for- mer deputy leader for party affairs, Daniel Micallef urged party dele- gates to resist those who wanted the party to adopt a siege mental- ity, insisting the party had to re- main open to everyone. MATTHEW AGIUS magius@mediatoday.com.mt Ian Borg and Alex Agius Saliba (above) and (left) Alex Sciberras and John Grech