The Nationalist Party is exploring the possibility of fielding former television presenter Norman Vella as a candidate in the European Parliament elections. Sources close to the party said he had been approached to gauge his interest as he was perceived as a “vote catcher”.
His name, the sources said, would be discussed by a special commission recommending candidates for forthcoming elections, headed by former European Commissioner Joe Borg.
As you can see, life is so full of surprises
Yesterday Mr Vella would not confirm whether he been approached by the PN. But he said when contacted that “life is so full of surprises” he was “not ruling out this may happen in the near future”.
The PN did not reply to questions on the matter.
Sources said the PN was trying to ride on the sympathy received by Mr Vella, an immigration officer, after he was questioned by police. His mobile phone and computer tablet were also confiscated after it was alleged he had taken photographs of two government spokesmen in a restricted area at the airport last month.
A few days later, a magistrate ordered that his mobile phone and tablet be returned to him as the police had no reasonable grounds to hold them.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told The Sunday Times of Malta that the police should have handled the case better.
Mr Vella used to present a daily evening talk show on the national television station before the programme was stopped after Labour came to power.
“I never imagined I would go back to working at the airport after so many years in journalism and neither did I expect I would be arrested and taken in for questioning. As you can see, life is so full of surprises that I cannot rule out anything happening in the near future,” he said yesterday.
Last month he filed a case before the Employment Commission against Dr Muscat and principal permanent secretary Mario Cutajar, claiming political discrimination over how he was redeployed from Public Broadcasting Services.
Mr Vella had been seconded to PBS in August 2012 on grounds of public policy. He was on unpaid leave, during which time he worked as production manager for programmes which also included Xarabank and Bijografiji. But, soon after the election, his secondment to PBS was revoked and he was redeployed to the Immigration Department, bringing to a sudden end his career which he had built following training as a journalist.
He filed the case claiming the revocation of his secondment was political.
Meanwhile, the PN commission will also be evaluating the candidature of another television presenter, Jean Claude Micallef, who was left out of the previous candidate lists because of a pending court case which has now been decided in his favour.