District 10 profile: PN heartland likely to stay deep blue

Neville Borg looks at District 10, which consists of Gżira, part of Naxxar, Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, Pembroke, St Julian’s, Paceville and Sliema.

Read all the district profiles here.

District 10 represents the Nationalist Party’s heartland, home to many of the party’s most loyal supporters. The district has changed over the years, with an ageing population and an influx of foreign residents, but PN roots remain.

In its heyday, the PN frequently won almost three out of every four votes in the district. However, it has seen its lead narrow sharply as the district’s demographic has changed. In 2022, it won 59 per cent of the total vote, well ahead of Labour’s 37 per cent.

Today, the district is home to several towns, such as Sliema and St Julian’s, where Maltese voters are now outnumbered by foreign residents.

As with the case of district nine, this district has been forced to change its boundaries to reach the constitution’s voter threshold. In district 10’s case, a large part of Naxxar has now been added.

Towns such as Sliema contain an increasingly ageing population, with many residents flagging issues that impair their mobility and quality of life. Foremost among these is the sea of tables and chairs blocking pavements in some of the district’s towns and the disturbances caused by construction works in the area.

Residents frequently also express their unhappiness over noise caused by bars blaring amplified music late into the night and the area’s constant struggle to get to grips with litter and garbage collection.

A race overshadowed by the loss of Robert Arrigo

The candidate race for both parties shares several similarities with that of district nine.

On the PN front, Joe Giglio, by far the district’s best performer in 2022, is almost certain to be returned to parliament. However, some insiders suggest that he is not a particularly popular figure among some of the darker blue voters in the district, raising questions over whether he will repeat his tally of almost 4,800 first-count votes.

Trailing Giglio in 2022 was Robert Arrigo, a much-loved figure in Sliema. His unexpected death shortly after his election means that the more than 3,000 first-count votes he won four years ago now hang in the balance. Some insiders suggest that a portion of those could fall in the direction of sitting MP Graham Bencini. 

Bencini, a Sliema native, had links to Arrigo, with the two having shared a past life within the ranks of the Sliema Wanderers football club. Bencini played for the club at the time when Arrigo served as its president. He has also been one of the party’s more active parliamentarians, initially appointed as shadow finance minister, later being handed the social policy portfolio.

However, several other notable names are also jockeying for position.

Eve Borg Bonello, one of the youngest candidates on the party ticket, won a seat in 2022 through the gender corrective mechanism. Some insiders believe she could be elected on her own steam this time around, on the back of home visits carried out over the past years and a strong social media presence.

Other household names include sitting MPs Albert Buttigieg, who has actively campaigned against unbridled construction, Graziella Attard Previ, Graziella Galea and current PN general council president Mark Anthony Sammut.

There remain questions over whether Buttigieg can garner enough appeal outside of his home town to win a seat, while Attard Previ may have seen her stock fall compared to four years ago, when she was the incumbent Sliema mayor.

Sammut, meanwhile, is a popular figure nationwide but is likely to fare better in his home district of Gudja. Insiders also say that, though his 2022 campaign received strong support from former party heavyweights, attention has now shifted to other candidates on the ticket.

Galea, too, is likely to fare better in her home town of St Paul’s Bay, where, in 2022, she was the only woman on a PN ticket to be elected on first count. 

One candidate being pushed by the party within the district is orthopaedic surgeon Ray Gatt. A familiar face on the PN’s campaign trail, Gatt has appeared as the face of the party’s promised healthcare reforms. But insiders say questions remain over whether his reserved personality will resonate with voters.

The party is also banking on a strong showing by former Labour Gżira mayor Conrad Borg Manché. Once a popular figure among Labourites and floating voters, Borg Manché comes off a relatively strong showing in 2024’s EP elections, where he contested as an independent candidate. However, several party insiders questioned whether lifelong PN voters will support a candidate such as Borg Manché who has no pedigree in the party’s structures.

Several Labour candidates banking on casual elections

Labour, on the other hand, have presented an uncharacteristically long ballot list, fielding 14 candidates in a district in which it is almost certain not to win more than two seats.

Many of these candidates will be banking on the party’s two clear frontrunners, Michael Falzon and Clifton Grima, vacating their seats if they are also be elected on the ninth district. In 2022, the pair had trounced all other candidates on the party’s ticket, including veteran former minister Evarist Bartolo and current health minister Jo Etienne Abela.

However, several party insiders suggest that parliamentary secretary Rebecca Buttigieg could spring a surprise and perform particularly strongly. While she is unlikely to topple the two front runners, she is believed to be a shoo-in for a seat through a casual election, should either of them give up their seat.

Should two casual elections take place in the district, insiders say Abela could also emerge with a seat, unless he is also elected in his home district of Gozo. Abela, who received 550 first-count votes in the district in 2022, has strengthened his national profile in his recent years in cabinet.

The party’s ticket also features former MP Deborah Schembri, returning to politics after a hiatus. Once one of the more recognisable faces of the 2011 pro-divorce movement and, later, a parliamentary secretary in Joseph Muscat’s cabinet, Schembri remains a popular figure.

Other candidates, such as psychologist and MP Katya De Giovanni, remain outsiders to the race.

The district is also particularly intriguing thanks to the presence of Momentum leader Arnold Cassola, who will consider district 10 his best chance at winning a seat. While Cassola performed well in the 2024 EP elections, he will have to dramatically improve his tally in the district in 2022, when he won a little under 450 first-count votes as an independent candidate.

The candidates running in the district are:

ADPD: Lauri Marcus.

Aħwa Maltin: Borg Josephine.

Labour Party: Abela Jo Etienne, Balzan Miguel, Borg Tania, Borg Vassallo Lorna, Buttigieg Rebecca, Caruana David, Cassar Rosette, Cassar Delia Edward, Cassar Shaw Lisa, De Giovanni Katya, Falzon Michael, Grima Clifton, Schembri Deborah, Spiteri Damien, Meli Mariah.

Momentum: Cassola Arnold, Schembri-Wismayer Pierre.

Nationalist Party: Abela Chetcuti Janice, Aquilina Joseph Mary, Attard Previ Graziella, Bencini Graham, Bonello David Anthony, Borg Bonello Eve, Borg Manché Conrad, Buttigieg Albert, Cutajar Errol, Galea Graziella, Gatt Raymond, Gauci Marija Elena, Giglio Joe, Muscat Noel, Sammut Mark Anthony, Williams Rachel Antoinette.

Read all the district profiles here.