The European Parliament has not yet officially informed the Maltese Parliament of the vacancy created with the resignation of Joseph Muscat.

The official communication is needed to launch the process for a casual election to elect a successor to Dr Muscat.

Electoral Commission secretary Joe Calleja told timesofmalta.com that the commission could not start procedures for a casual election before it was officially informed of Dr Muscat's resignation by the Maltese Parliament. But the Maltese Parliament itself still had to be officially informed by the European Parliament.

Once the communication is made, the Electoral Commission will issue a call for nominations. If no objections to the nominations are raised, the commission will count the preferences given to the candidates to declare the new MEP.

The seat can be contested by Glenn Beddingfield, Owen Bonnici, Robert Micallef, Joe Debono Grech and Wenzu Mintoff.

While Mr Beddingfield has declared his candidacy saying he would be exercising his right to contest, Dr Bonnici has said he will not stand.

Dr Bonnici said that although he was grateful to all those who voted for him in the 2004 EP election, now that he was an MP he believed that his loyalty was to the Maltese Parliament. He would therefore not stand for the casual election or the EP Parliament election next June.

Dr Mintoff said he would decide whether or not to contest once the nominations opened.

Mr Debono Grech said he still had to discuss the matter with the party.

Dr Micallef could not be contacted.