Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/841483
12 YANNICK PACE SEVEN new faces were this week added to the list of MPs who will represent the nation in the 13th parliament since independence. Casual elections were held on Tuesday and Wednesday to deter- mine which candidates would take up seats given up by candidates elected on two districts. Glenn Bedingdield, Stefan Zrin- zo Azzopardi, Clayton Bartolo, and Rosianne Cutajar were elected for the first time for the Labour Party, while Karol Aquilina, Da- vid Stellini and Ivan Bartolo were elected for the PN. A total of 12 seats were up for grabs in the elections: seven on Labour's side and five on the PN's. For Labour, causal elections were held on the second district, where Helena Dalli gave up her seat, as well as the fourth (Chris Fearne), fifth (Joseph Muscat), sixth (Silvio Schembri), eighth (Edward Sci- cluna), ninth (Michael Falzon) and the 12th (Evarist Bartolo). On the PN's side, elections were held on the seventh district, where Beppe Fenech Adami gave up his seat, the 10th district, which was vacated by Robert Arrigo, the 11th where two seats were made avail- able by David Agius and Simon Busuttil, and on the 13th district, to replace Marthese Portelli. District 2 OPM communications aide and blogger Glenn Bedingfield was elected to parliament on the sec- ond district, beating Stefan Buon- tempo and Mark Causon after the first count. Bedingfield inherited 2,216 of Helena Dalli's votes, with Buon- tempo claiming 1,230 and Causon 457. Had the Labour Party executive decided that Dalli was to give up her seat on the third rather than the second, eight of the Labour Party's unelected candidates on the third district would have stood a chance of being elected. The de- cision for her to vacate her seat on the second favoured Bedingfield since he and Causon were the only two unelected candidates on the district. District 4 Chris Fearne's fourth district seat was contested by six candidates, all of whom appeared to have a chance. Etienne Grech was in the lead af- ter the first count, collecting 1,060 votes. He was followed by Andy Ellul with 938, Stefan Buontempo (792), and Joe Cilia (563). Matters were complicated fol- lowing Cilia's elimination in the third round, as the distribution of his votes led to a tie and a close showdown between Buontempo and Ellul. According to electoral law, where two candidates have an equal number of votes, the one with the most first count votes in the casual election is given preference, which in this case would have meant the elimination of Buontempo. This was not necessary because, as per normal procedure where a count comes down to a small num- ber of votes, a recount was ordered by the commission. Luckily for Buontempo – who was not present at the counting hall, despite contesting the causal elections on two districts – the end of the recount left him with an ad- vantage of three votes over Ellul. Ellul opted for a second recount, which brought Buontempo's ad- vantage down to one vote, with El- lul asking for yet another recount which finally confirmed the re- sult. Ellul's votes were distributed equally between Buontempo and Grech, resulting in the latter being elected to Parliament. District 5 The election on the fifth district was contested by 10 candidates, all vying for the seat vacated by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who was elected on the district with 12,886 first-count votes. Muscat was elected together with newcomer Julia Farrugia Portelli and Owen Bonnici, with former Labour Party president Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi narrowly miss- ing out, falling some 300 votes short of the quota. In the casual election, Zrinzo Azzopardi was immediately in the lead, winning 1,520 votes in the first count with former MP Lu- ciano Busuttil collecting the sec- ond largest number of votes with 671 votes. Zrinzo Azzopardi went on to win the seat with relative ease. District 6 Qormi mayor Rosianne Cuta- jar and Malta Tourism Author- ity chairman Gavin Gulia were the only two unelected Labour party candidates on the district, and despite Cutajar having clearly outperformed Gulia in the gen- maltatoday, SUNDAY, 25 JUNE 2017 News Casual elections roundup: Seven new faces make it to parliament Operational Programme I – Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 Fostering a competitive and sustainable economy to meet our challenges ANNOUNCEMENT - CALL V European Regional Development Fund The Managing Authority for Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 in Malta, the Planning and Priorities Co- ordination Division (PPCD) within the Ministry of European Affairs and Equality (MEAE), would like to announce that it is launching a call for project proposals to be undertaken by Ministries, Government Departments, Public Sector and Public Institutions which are in line with the priorities identified in the RIS3 strategy and supporting documents, and proposed under Priority Axis 1 and the Investment Priority listed below. The call will close on Friday 29 th September 2017 at noon. Priority Axis 1 – 'Investing in research, technological development and innovation' Investment Priority (IP) 1a – Enhancing research and innovation (R&I) infrastructure and capacities to develop R&I excellence, and promoting centres of competence, in particular those of European interest ANNOUNCEMENT - CALL VI Cohesion Fund The Planning and Priorities Co-ordination Division (PPCD) would also like to announce that it is launching a call for project proposals under Priority Axis 11 and the Investment Priority listed below. The call will close on Friday 29 th September 2017 at noon. Priority Axis 11 – 'Investing in Ten-T infrastructure' Investment Priority (IP) 7i - Supporting a multimodal Single European Transport Area by investing in the TEN-T The online application form for the submission of project proposals for both Calls, together with supporting documentation including the eligibility guidance notes, the detailed guidance notes and indicators guidance, will be available on http://eufunds.gov.mt/opencalls (PPCD section). Prospective applicants are encouraged to refer to Operational Programme I available on the above link and the eligibility guidance notes in order to check whether their proposals are eligible for funding through these calls for funding proposals. Information sessions are being organised for prospective applicants for both calls. Applicants are invited to enrol by filling in a registration form (available on http://eufunds.gov.mt/opencalls - PPCD section) by Friday 7 th July 2017 at noon. The dates and subjects are as follows: Friday 14 th July 2017 (General Overview); Friday 21 st July 2017 (FA/FFS/CBAs for Applicants); Monday 24 th July/Tuesday 25 th July/Wednesday 26 th July 2017 (How to Apply Online - Workshop); Friday 4 th August 2017 (How to Plan a Project Proposal) Additional sessions may be organised depending on the requests received. Further information and generic queries on these calls and on the European Structural and Investment Funds 2014- 2020 may be obtained from http://eufunds.gov.mt or from PPCD's email for calls for proposals 2014-2020: info.eufunds@gov.mt. Operational Programme I - European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 Fostering a competitive and sustainable economy to meet our challenges Advert part financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Co-financing rate: 80% European Union; 20% National Funds