I refer to the editorial in The Sunday Times of July 15.

For the past two years or more, I have had to endure ficticious media speculation that I had objected to any candidate contesting the fifth electoral district where at the last election I was elected as the youngest government MP, notwithstanding formidable candidates in the same district such as Louis Galea, Ninu Zammit and Helen D’Amato.

While contesting three elections in the company of these heavyweights and never complaining, does it make sense to complain about some newcomer?

When asked the same question on Bondiplus way back October 2009, I asked the presenter to check whether the party ever approved candidates three years before any general election. The answer would have been No. Up until 1998 unelected election candidates lost their status the day after the election and had to be approved again some months before the next election.

Not only I did never object to any candidature, but during my very first meeting with Paul Borg Olivier after his election as general secretary in 2008, I put forward names of prospective candidates including then Zurrieq local councillor and the current Foreign Minister’s PRO, Melvyn Mangion. The general secretary confirmed this in the last executive committee meeting.

Moreover, fully aware of the difficulties encountered by candidates, having experienced that for 10 years in silence, I proposed the setting up of a Candidates’ Forum to help in the vetting and preparation of prospective candidates

So The Sunday Times’ editorial argument that Herman Schiavone’s candidature was not approved to appease me is completely unfounded. The Sunday Times should have noted that during the same meeting the candidature of Zurrieq committee president and fifth district executive committee representative Toni Bezzina was also not approved.

Furthermore, when I came to know that Mr Schiavone had made an unfounded and baseless allegation to Edgar Galea Curmi (the Prime Minister’s head of secretariat) that I or someone else close to another 2003 election candidate in the fifth district might have been behind an anonymous letter sent to him before the 2003 election, something which I categorically denied, I immediately asked the party to take the necessary steps to safeguard my reputation, and offered to testify before the administrative council.

Since for months nothing was done, I had to inform the police. I did not ask the police to take any action because I did not want to escalate matters but simply wanted to protect my reputation.

But when this allegation started to surface in blogs I again asked the party to take the necessary steps. It was only then that the party issued a statement urging Mr Schiavone not to present himself as a party candidate, deeming his behavior unacceptable and calling on Mr Schiavone to either withdraw or substantiate his claim in my regard, something which to date he has never done.

This allegation and the party’s inaction for months has caused me untold harm and indirectly caused unrest in the parliamentary group.