Bid for early election of administration put on back burner

A petition to force the election of the Labour Party's administration posts shortly after that for the leadership has been temporarily frozen pending the outcome of the June 5 vote.

One of the prime movers behind the petition, Labour's former Paola mayor Ray Attard said he preferred not to comment on the matter for the time being. However, Labour sources said the petition has been temporarily put on the back burner pending the outcome of the leadership race.

The petition started being circulated earlier this month, about the time when the party convened an extraordinary general conference to vote on whether all of Labour's paid-up members should vote for the next leadership along with the present 900 delegates. The motion was defeated 620 to 165, with its supporters saying they will re-submit it in the future.

The administration petition calls for a similar EGM process that will bring forward the elections for the posts of general secretary and president, among others, from the current statutory deadline of next January to shortly after the June 5 leadership election.

The petition was stopped shortly after it started being circulated, however, on the basis that it made more sense to wait for the new leadership, which will probably endorse the proposal. All of the leadership hopefuls more or less told The Sunday Times that they agreed or at least did not object to an early election of the administration. Michael Falzon said that as a candidate for the leadership he preferred not to influence delegates on this point by pronouncing his preference, but added that if the delegates wanted an early election he was not against it.

The other four candidates said they favoured an immediate election. Such a move would get the other battles out of the way, particularly that for the post of general secretary, for which Alfred Grixti has already said he will run, against the incumbent Jason Micallef.