(Adds PN statement + new video)

The Sliema council this evening approved a motion of no confidence in mayor Nikki Dimech and appointed Joanna Gonzi mayor.

All six PN councillors voted in favour, the Labour councillors abstained and councillor Sandra Camilleri, who resigned from the PN last week, voted against.

Ms Camilleri said that she was a lady of principle and was the only councillor using her conscience. Mr Dimech also voted against the motion.

Soon after her election, Dr Gonzi promised to do her utmost for Sliema. She denied there had been a power struggle and urged the council to move ahead.

Mr Dimech turned up for the meeting 15 minutes late - because he could not find a parking space.

When Mr Dimech did not turn up, Dr Gonzi said that the meeting could still start because there was a quorum.

However, a family member of Mr Dimech said that the mayor was looking for a parking space.

The motion was presented by PN councillor Cyrus Engerer and Mr Dimech replied to the allegations saying that the people who were believing what contractor Stephen Buhagiar was saying were the same people who had fired him.

He said he was being framed and was psychologiclaly broken. He also thanked his supporters.

Mr Dimech was on Tuesday charged with soliciting a bribe and reviling a public official. He was released on bail after pleading “definitely not guilty” to the charges.

The 31-year-old mayor, who was elected through the endorsement of his mentor, MP Robert Arrigo, was kicked out of the PN after he told the police in a statement he had asked for a bribe. Mr Dimech has insisted he had been coerced in making such a statement after suffering a panic attack while in police custody and was not given access to his inhaler. He has vowed to stay on as an independent mayor.

His expulsion from the party irked PN councillor Camilleri, who claimed she was forced to sign the motion of no confidence by PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier, who rejected the allegation as “unfounded”.

Just before the meeting started, the Labour councillors in Sliema said they were abstaining from the vote.

Addressing the media outside the council offices, councillor Martin Debono said PL councillors were abstaining because the case was politically contaminated and was part of a fight for power, the roots of which were in corridors of Dar Centrali.

It was a fight between rival factions within the PN, he said.

Mr Debono said the PL councillors did not agree with the way councillor Sandra Camilleri was treated by the PN and she acted in an exemplary way.

They also did not agree that Joanna Gonzi should be mayor as in several instances she had been disrespectful to the Labour minority group.

Mr Debono said it was not right for the police to arraign the mayor just a few hours before the vote of no confidence in him was to be taken as this was something that could have influenced the decision.

He said there were a lot of strange coincidences, including that confidential information had been leaked to the media.

PN STATEMENT

The PN said in a statement that the vote that had just been taken reflected the seriousness with which it acted on the case.

It said that as soon as it learnt of the allegations that the mayor had admitted to bribery with the police, it acted immediately and dismissed the mayor when he resisted.

The party did this because it did not want within it people who were involved in corruption.

The PN also condemned the PL for “its shameful behaviour” saying it used its media to defend people who admitted they had been bribed.

The PL, the PN said, this evening continued to show its weakness when its three councillors abstained from voting in the no confidence motion against Mr Dimech.

It said it was well known that the PL had not passed on any information to the police about cases where its councillors and mayors resigned and continued to hide the reasons behind their resignations.

The case, the party said, showed that the country had well-functioning institutions which investigated every allegation of corruption and seriously proceeded to take court action when enough facts were found to allow this.