The traditional PN stronghold of the 12th electoral district looks much less safe in 2022.
Back in 2017, the party only edged Labour by a mere 801 votes, thanks primarily to the almost 9,400 first-count votes received by former PN leader Simon Busuttil.
With the lack of a party leader on the list this time round, the 12th electoral district, comprising Mellieħa, St Paul’s Bay and part of Naxxar, could easily sway the other way, analysts believe. Labour is countering with three ministerial heavyweights in Michael Farrugia, Evarist Bartolo and Clayton Bartolo.
PN garnered 11,921 votes, or 50.9 per cent of the vote in the 2017 election, against Labour’s 11,120 (47.5 per cent).
Alleanza Bidla, Alternattiva Demokratika, Moviment Patrijotti Maltin and an independent candidate together attracted just under 350 votes.
What to look out for
The Nationalist Party elected three candidates from the 12th district in 2017, Busuttil leading the way winning 9,389 first-count votes.
Busuttil resigned from parliament in 2020 to serve as general secretary of the European People’s Party.
David Thake replaced him in a casual election but resigned from parliament this year in the wake of revelations over outstanding VAT dues and was himself replaced by former St Paul’s Bay mayor Graziella Galea. She will contest the 12th district along with former Mellieħa mayor and MP Robert Cutajar who is considered quite strong on this district.
Maria Fatima Deguara and Claudette Buttigieg will be contesting this district again while Ivan Bartolo, who gave up his seat in 2020 to make space for the PN’s new leader, Bernard Grech, and Mellieħa minority leader Ivan Castillo are contesting this district for the first time.
On the Labour side, this district will see veteran politician Evarist Bartolo, whose seat is considered safe, and Farrugia and Clayton Bartolo, who together got almost 7,300 votes in 2017. Anthony Agius Decelis will be contesting this district for the first time.
District 12 will see three Labour newcomers: Jonathan Attard, Naomi Cachia and Mosta mayor Romilda Baldacchino Zarb.
Attard was co-opted to parliament last July to replace Manuel Mallia, who resigned his seat to become High Commissioner to the UK.
Attard served as a consultant at the economy ministry and was previously a reporter for Labour’s media arm ONE before graduating in law.
The main issues
Residents of the 12th electoral district are seriously concerned about overdevelopment and the general cleanliness of their localities, according to surveys.
This is particularly worrying to those voters residing in St Paul’s Bay. Most of them complained about their ‘dirty’ locality and the state of the environment.
Naxxar residents are more concerned about the amount of construction taking place in the area while Mellieħa residents are concerned about overdevelopment and the lack of parking space.
The candidates
Labour Party
Evarist Bartolo
Anthony Agius Decelis
Jonathan Attard
Clayton Bartolo
Damian Spiteri
Kenneth Spiteri
Michael Farrugia
Joseph-Matthew Attard
Dario Vella
Naomi Cachia
Romilda Baldacchino Zarb
Nationalist Party
Ivan Bartolo
Ivan Castillo
Graziella Galea
Robert Cutajar
Maria Fatima Deguara
Claudette Buttigieg
ABBA
Ivan Grech Mintoff
David John Buttigieg
ADPD
Luke Joe Caruana
Sandra Gauci
Partit Popolari
Paul Salomone
Independent
Jane Chircop