Former Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant is not expected to contest the next election, though he dec­lined to indicate his intentions when asked yesterday.

Sources in Dr Sant’s home district of Birkirkara have told The Sunday Times the former party leader has decided to call it a day and will not be on the Labour Party ticket.

However, when asked to comment, Dr Sant said: “My decision regarding contesting the next election is still to be taken. It will be done in the best interests of the Labour Party.”

Officially, the Labour Party has not been informed of Dr Sant’s intention to stand down or otherwise, a spokesman said. “But Dr Sant has always maintained that any decision taken will be in the best interests of the party.”

Dr Sant, who lives in Birkirkara, obtained more than 7,000 votes on the eighth district (Birkirkara) at the last election and more than 9,000 votes on the first district that included Valletta and Ħamrun.

The Labour Party lost the election and Dr Sant resigned as leader, a post he had occupied since 1992.

Dr Sant contested the general election for the first time in 1987, obtaining 513 votes on the eighth district and a dismal 34 votes on the first. He was not elected but was subsequently co-opted to Parliament after a seat was vacated. He was elected on his own steam in every subsequent election.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.