Chief Justice Vincent de Gaetano has been elected to serve as judge at the European Court of Human Rights, sealing a choice that has been four years in the making.

The Chief Justice was clearly the favourite, clinching 114 votes at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe with the other nominees, Madame Justice Abigail Lofaro and Mr Justice Joseph Filletti, getting 61 and 23 votes respectively.

A new Chief Justice will now have to be appointed.

There were 210 members voting during yesterday's plenary session in Strasbourg but there were 12 blank or spoilt ballots.

The Chief Justice, who will be replacing Judge Giovanni Bonello, has to take up his new within three months. The term of office is for nine years.

Judge Bonello was meant to retire at the age of 70 but had stayed on until a replacement was found. Since 2006, the government had been trying to persuade the European selection committee to choose one of the three male judges it had been nominating. However, the ECHR kept insisting the name of a female had to be included in the list of Malta's nominees for gender equality's sake. It refused the government's list three times.

The Chief Justice, who had been appointed in 2002, was on the government's original list. Finally, last September, the Justice Ministry issued a fresh call for applications and eventually submitted Madame Justice Lofaro's name.

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