Can Metsola lead PN without becoming opposition leader?

Legal experts insist the constitutional role of opposition leader must be held by a party leader but the Speaker of the House has pointed to a past precedent, as speculation builds around Roberta Metsola’s political future.

With Bernard Grech resigning as Nationalist Party leader, all eyes are on the European Parliament president’s possible entry into domestic politics. 

Sources say Metsola is considering throwing her hat to contest the PN leadership later this year while holding her senior Brussels role until her term elapses in January 2027.

If that were to happen, she would be unable to take a seat in Malta’s House of Representatives and therefore cannot become opposition leader, a role defined by the constitution.

Speaker and former Labour deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia, constitutional expert and former minister Tonio Borg, former judge Giovanni Bonello, and law history professor Ray Mangion were contacted for comment.

Farrugia pointed to precedent, when Joseph Muscat was elected Labour leader in June 2008 but not immediately opposition leader, since he was still serving as an MEP.

When Joseph Muscat was elected PL leader he did not immediately become leader of the opposition. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

After the March 2008 general election, Charles Mangion, who was Labour deputy leader for party affairs, was made interim leader and, in June that year, took the oath of opposition leader.

Even after Muscat took over as party leader, Mangion stayed on as opposition leader until parliament’s summer recess ended and Muscat was co-opted to the house, Farrugia pointed out.

He noted that Muscat was not an MP until his co-option, meaning there were no issues with someone else being the opposition leader.

But when contacted, Borg, a former deputy prime minister and a constitutional expert, pointed to the temporary nature of that arrangement.

“After Joseph Muscat was elected Labour Party leader, Charles Mangion stayed on as interim opposition leader. But that was understood to be a temporary solution,” Borg said.

He said that, in general, the constitution does not envisage having an opposition leader who is not also serving as the leader of their party.

The constitutional clause on the leader of the opposition

“The constitution is pretty clear that the opposition leader should be the leader of the party in opposition, especially if it is only one party on the opposition benches,” Borg told Times of Malta.

Muscat was not an MP until his co-option, meaning there were no issues with someone else being opposition leader

He said the constitutional clauses referring to ‘Leader of the Opposition’ are among the few circumstances in which a political party is mentioned at all.

Having an opposition leader who is not an MP is not allowed by the constitution, he argued. 

That was made very clear by former president George Vella, Borg said.

Five years ago, in the midst of the Nationalist Party’s leadership crisis, 17 PN MPs declared they had no confidence in then-leader Adrian Delia.

In July 2020, the rebel MPs had met President George Vella, asking that Therese Comodini Cachia be appointed opposition leader instead.

However, despite establishing that Delia no longer enjoyed the support of his parliamentary group, Vella declined to oust Delia as opposition leader.

Vella had said Delia could not be removed as opposition leader because the role should be held by the leader of the largest party in opposition to the government, which was the Nationalist Party.

Similarly, Bonello argued that the constitutional article referring to the opposition leader is “regulated in some detail by article 90”.

He said the constitution is relatively clear on the eligibility criteria for appointing an opposition leader when there is only one opposition party represented in parliament.

“The president is not allowed any leeway and may only appoint the person who is both a member of the House of Representatives and, concurrently, the leader of that party.”

Law history professor Mangion pointed out that the role of opposition leader was first explicitly spelled out in Malta’s Independence Constitution.

Before that, the role of the opposition leader did not exist in the constitution of Malta. 

There is no set date for the PN leadership election, which is expected to take place around September.