An inquiry into claims that a nursing council election was rigged must be fully transparent and not drag on for an indefinite period of time, the two people who made the claims have said. 

In a statement issued to the media, Maria Cassar and Corinne Ward challenged Health Minister Chris Fearne to set clear timeframes for the inquiry, and called on him to hold off recognising election results until inquiry findings were made public. 

The two women, who unsuccessfully contested nursing council elections, filed a judicial protest last week alleging the elections had been rigged to favour three other candidates. 

The claims prompted Dr Fearne to appoint an inquiry into the matter, with Environment Ministry permanent secretary Joseph Caruana at its head. 

Ms Cassar and Ms Ward said that they were both keen to testify to the inquiry under oath, and that they expected all witnesses to do likewise. 

The two also said they expected every document and testimony made to the inquiry to be made public in their entirety. The inquiry findings should also be made fully available to the public, they said. 

They also urged the inquiry to appoint handwriting experts to assess whether signatures on ballot papers were authentic or, as they alleged in their judicial protest, falsified.