Désirée Vella Brincat is set to be co-opted to the Pembroke local council to fill the seat vacated by her mother Evelyn, who died last month, after the absence of any Nationalist Party candidates submitting their nomination for the casual election.
The lack of contestation for a vacant council seat is not a common occurrence.
Evelyn Vella BrincatPN sources told The Sunday Times of Malta that the decision was taken during an executive committee meeting held last Thursday. The party did not reply officially to questions.
It was forced to resort to co-option in the wake of the fact that no submissions were received by the Electoral Commission during the three-day nomination period which closed last Wednesday.
Evelyn Vella Brincat garnered the highest number of votes among PN candidates in the 2013 council election. The minority leader died last month, aged 57, following a long illness.
No submissions were received
However, neither of the two eligible PN candidates who failed to be elected five years ago – former MP Franco Galea and Oliver Zammit – entered the race for the casual election to fill the vacant seat.
Contacted by this newspaper, Mr Galea noted that he had retired from politics following the 2013 election and consequently he was not interested.
However, he used the opportunity to remark that Maltese politicians should show more respect for their adversaries, and that MPs should be offered better conditions.
As for the current state of the PN, the party should have apologised to the Prime Minister’s family in the wake of the inquiry which concluded that allegations surrounding secret Panama company Egrant could not be proven, he added.
He noted that the very fact that Simon Busuttil had been asked to resign by PN leader Adrian Delia proved that the party’s decision to base its 2017 general election campaign on such claims was wrong.
The other eligible candidate, Oliver Zammit, told this newspaper that his decision not to enter the race was for personal reasons. “This has nothing to do with the party, its leadership or policies,” he added.