Ivan Bartolo has defended his decision to end his foray into politics, just hours after the PN executive decided that Robert Arrigo and Marthese Portelli would keep their seats in the 9th district, blocking his chance of being elected.

On a Facebook post, Mr Bartolo said that his “short career in politics” had come to an end but told the Times of Malta that his decision was nothing to do with the outcome of his own candidature.

If they do manage to inspire me, of course, in the same way that I gave a lending hand this time, why not?”

Mr Bartolo, the prominent businessman who founded 6PM – now Idox – pointed out that he had said in an interview a few weeks ago that he would step down if PN leader Simon Busuttil resigned from his post, although at the end of comments he gave to the Times of Malta, he appeared to soften his resolve with regards to future activism, saying it was up to the party to decide whether it needed him or not, making his personal admiration for the Opposition Leader very clear.

“If in the same way that Simon has managed to inspire me – let’s hope that in the future there will be people who will manage to inspire me – if they do manage to inspire me, of course, in the same way that I gave a lending hand this time, why not?”

He stressed that he would have honoured the commitment had he been elected but said his decision was not prompted by bitterness at the party’s choice of districts: “I am sure that there is political rationale, which I am politically still very new and may not understand, but at no time have I had any sour grapes.”

Mr Bartolo got 1,204 first count votes and was only eliminated on the 28th count with 2,133 votes.