Former Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Frendo was yesterday unanimously approved as the next Speaker of the House by the Nationalist Party's parliamentary group as speculation mounted over who would fill his seat in Parliament.
After the PN parliamentary group meeting last night, Dr Frendo walked out of the PN headquarters in Pietà next to the other MP who was named as a contender for the post, Francis Zammit Dimech.
Dr Frendo said this was a big honour for him because the greatest privilege in the world was to serve one's country.
Asked whether he was chosen because he was owed such a position, he said he had 23 years of parliamentary experience during which he learnt that no one was ever owed anything in politics.
He said he could have been nominated because he had lived "the parliamentary life".
"I've always done my work with respect for opposing views... so that mutual respect makes me confident that I would be a candidate the entire House could be happy with."
Speculation now turns to the seat Dr Frendo will vacate, with the PN's executive council set to decide on Saturday.
During the parliamentary group meeting it was decided that the PN would follow its policy of filling vacated parliamentary seats with candidates from the same district, in this case, the 10th.
Sources said the front-runner for co-option was 30-year-old Karl Gouder, deputy mayor of St Julians and a PN employee within the information office.
If chosen, he would be the youngest MP on the government's side, taking the honour from lawyer Franco Debono.
He is very popular with the grassroots and made a good showing in the last general election where he contested for the first time in the ninth and 10th districts.
Asked whether he was keen on the post, he said: "Do you know anyone who contests an election and then won't want to get elected?"
But in terms of votes, the first person who should be considered is PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier, even though he is not known to have shown interest in the post.
It is the PN's practice to avoid having a general secretary who is also a member of Parliament. However, Dr Borg Olivier's term ends next month, when his post can be contested.
When contacted, Dr Borg Olivier preferred not to comment.
Other candidates who contested the election on the 10th district are Pippo Psaila, Donald Felice and Franco Galea. However, sources said they were not seen as front-runners for various reasons.
When contacted, Mr Psaila, who would be the third most likely to be co-opted, said he had not given the issue much thought and would leave everything in the hands of the Prime Minister.
Lawyer Georg Sapiano, who had been touted as a favourite for co-option in the past weeks, said that, whether he liked it or not, he was out of the running.
"Although I am very grateful to the people who are mentioning me, if Dr Frendo is going to be chosen, then it would have to be a person on his district to get co-opted. Since I only contested on the ninth district, then the executive committee cannot consider my name," he said.