Manoeuvring has started within the Nationalist Party for the seat in parliament set to be vacated by David Stellini, who is stepping down to resume his old job in Brussels.

Mr Stellini was elected in a casual election from the 13th district (Gozo) after Marthese Portelli, who was returned from two districts, gave up that seat.

The co-option will be decided by the Nationalist Party.

Karol Aquilina, a former president of the PN administrative council and an MP seen as being in the Simon Busuttil wing of the party, suggested on Facebook that the PN should retain its current representation in Gozo by nominating Kevin Cutajar to take Mr Stellini’s place.

Dr Cutajar, he pointed out, is a lawyer who had not let his disability get in the way of his goals and he was eminently suitable to represent the Gozitans in parliament. Choosing him would also be a message by the PN of its commitment to people with disabilities.

Dr Aquilina's post was shared by several MPs including former deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami.

Paul Borg Olivier, former PN general secretary, in a separate post also argued that the PN would benefit from having Dr Cutajar in the House, and said party should come before personal favours.

READ: Delia showers Debono with praise for giving up seat

There have been suggestions in the PN that the party could opt to return Jean-Pierre Debono to Parliament. He had resigned to make way for newly-elected party leader Adrian Delia to have a seat in the House and become leader of the opposition, and his possible co-option is being seen as returning the favour.

READ: How a blind lawyer found his way

Some party insiders also argue that Gozo is already over-represented in parliament.

Each district directly elects five MPs. Labour won a majority in Gozo and elected three, but because of casual elections and the mechanism to ensure national proportionality, the PN still ended up with four MPs from Gozo - Chris Said, Marthese Portelli, David Stellini and Frederick Azzopardi.

Dr Cutajar won 901 first count votes at the general election.

Jean-Pierre Debono.Jean-Pierre Debono.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.