Tony Abela, Rudolf Grima and David Vassallo have submitted their nominations to contest the casual election following the resignation of former Nationalist MP Joe Cassar.

The other eligible candidates – Philip Mifsud, Peter Micallef and Edwin Vassallo – have until Saturday to submit their nomination.

However, Edwin Vassallo, a former Nationalist MP and parliamentary secretary, will not be running, saying he was happy serving the people of Mosta as mayor for the moment, although he plans to contest the next general election on behalf of the PN.

The casual election involves the opening of the sealed 4,075 votes that led to Dr Cassar’s election in 2013. These votes will be distributed according to the preference indicated. The candidate who first reaches the quota, set at 2,038, will be elected. In 2013, a total of 449 of David Vassallo’s votes were transferred to Dr Cassar, compared the Dr Abela’s 993.

The indications are that Dr Abela and David Vassallo will be the front-runners in the casual election

However, 402 of Dr Abela’s votes were not included in Dr Cassar’s package when he was elected because these exceeded the quota.

The indications are that Dr Abela and David Vassallo will be the front-runners in the casual election, with about 400 votes each.

Edwin Vassallo could have already been elected to Parliament by virtue of a court judgment handed down last February 5 in a case instituted by the PN. However, both the Labour Party and the Electoral Commission appealed the decision. The case was filed after the 2013 election and the PN claimed that it should be allocated two extra seats in Parliament.

It submitted that mistakes in the counting of votes in the eighth and 13th electoral districts had led to the election of Labour candidates at the expense of PN representatives.

The Court declared there were shortcomings in the counting of votes in both electoral districts and that the final electoral result did not reflect the choice of the electorate.

It ruled that the PN should be given two additional seats in Parliament. One of the seats would have gone to Edwin Vassallo.

The casual election will be held on Monday at the Naxxar Counting Hall.

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.