The Labour Party said this evening that it was supporting a no confidence motion in Fgura mayor Darren Marmara.

Mr Marmara said when contacted that he did not know why such action was being taken.

The PL said in a statement that after Mr Marmara refused to resign, the party was left with no other option but to back the no confidence motion.

It said this decision was being taken for valid reasons in the interest of the locality. It did not say what those reasons were.

Fgura has a large majority of Labour councillors.

Mr Marmara told timesofmalta.com that he had no idea what had led to this situation. He said he had requested meetings at party level, he knew that internal discussions were taking place and that there were people who were mediating but he had not been called for talks.

He said that if this was a matter relating to disciplinary action by the party, the council should not be brought into the issue.

Mr Marmara said he would be contacting his legal advisers for advice as to how he should proceed in the situation.

PN CALLS FOR TRANSPARENCY

The PN in a statement said the PL had indicated that it had information about misbehaviour by the mayor, and it should therefore make it public so that the authorities could investigate.

Rather than hiding such misbehaviour, the PL should report it and have it investigated.

Furthermore, the residents of Fgura and the people of the rest of Malta had a right to know what reasons the PL had for wanting to remove the mayor.