With only two days to go for the deadline Nationalist MP Franco Debono has set Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to split the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry, Dr Debono has gone to Italy on a three-day vacation.

When contacted Dr Debono said he is on a three-day visit to Italy and will return to Malta on Saturday. Party officials including the Prime Minister, who is also on vacation at the Girgenti Palace, had been informed of this visit and they were in contact.

Dr Debono is accompanied by his girlfriend who has undergone major surgery in the past weeks. Dr Debono himself declared in the past days that unfounded allegations, by former PN candidate Hermann Schiavone, which have also been slammed by the PN, had caused his health "untold harm".

The Nationalist NP had told The Times when asked whether he would ever consider contesting the election with Labour, that he would never ever consider this possibility.

An accomplished criminal lawyer, Dr Debono had said he was willing to leave everything he had built behind and start a new life in Italy.

However, his current trip to Italy has nothing to do with this declaration, Dr Debono said, adding that his visit to Italy was a very short private one.

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