Labour MEP Louis Grech yesterday evening formally submitted his nomination for the party’s deputy leadership and will likely be uncontested.

His nomination was backed formally by party Whip Joe Mizzi, together with MPs Karmenu Vella and Chris Cardona, the latter being yesterday mentioned prominently as a likely contender.

The day started with a long list of names that seemed to grow by the hour, but Mr Grech’s potential nomination loomed large.

Besides fellow MEP Edward Scicluna, the most prominently named candidates were MP Evarist Bartolo and Dr Cardona, who had lost against Dr Farrugia in the contest for the same position in 2008.

Dr Cardona declared early on that he would make way if Mr Grech presented himself, as did other potential candidates.

“Louis has standing in the party, has Joseph’s (Muscat) backing and everyone’s priority right now is the election. It would have been a lost cause for anyone contesting him and now is not the time for that sort of thing and everyone recognizes it,” a party source told The Times.

This is a very awkward election for the party, coming on the heels of Anġlu Farrugia’s forced resignation on Thursday after he accused a magistrate of political bias in a speech on Sunday.

In the morning, Dr Farrugia released his two-page resignation letter, in which he said he had lost confidence in Dr Muscat. He refused to comment about his resignation throughout the day.

“What I had to say I said in the letter, I don’t feel I should make any further comments,” he told The Times.