Għargħur mayor faces no confidence motion filed by PL and rebel councillors

Updated Thursday 9.55am with PL statement

Għargħur’s two PL councillors and councillor Francesca Attard, who recently resigned from the Nationalist Party, have filed a no-confidence motion in PN mayor Helen Gauci.  

The motion says Gauci has demonstrated a lack of transparent and effective leadership and so should no longer remain mayor. 

It proposes that PL councillor Mariah Meli take over as mayor and that Attard remain as deputy mayor.

PN secretary general Charles Bonello said the move was anti-democratic as the Nationalist Party won a clear majority in last June’s local council elections. 

Mayor Gauci also garnered more votes than the two PL councillors and Attard combined, he said.  

“These three councillors got 783 votes while the mayor won 869 votes”, he said. “This is an attack on local democracy and democracy in general because the minority is trying to seize power in the council. This is shameful."

Francesca Attard, who was elected on the PN ticket, resigned from the party recently saying she wants to work “free from political pressure”.    

Attard, who received 177 first count votes in that same election, did not give a specific reason when she resigned but later pointed out a deal to sub-lease a fort in the locality to an NGO.  

Her resignation means the Nationalist Party no longer has a majority in the five-seat council locality that saw 62 per cent of voters choose candidates fielded by PN during last June’s elections. 

Should the no-confidence vote go through, Helen Gauci will no longer retain her mayorship.  

Public administration shadow minister Claudette Buttigieg, expressed solidarity with Gauci and PN councilor Marilena Hassan.

“Should this motion go through, it would be a very dangerous precedent for the entire country,” she said.  The motion seen by Times of Malta says Gauci has had "several episodes where weak administration and lack of good governance have been observed".

The motion, filed on Monday, also says that Gauci has a lack of awareness about what is happening in projects the Council is undertaking, including projects funded by European funds.

It also points to "lack of updated financial reports, where the figures of the Council’s financial statements, which concern public funds, are not being completed in the time stipulated by law, creating a situation where councillors do not have a clear and current picture of the Council’s finances".

'Kept in the dark'

In a statement issued Thursday, the Labour Party said the motion was tabled "following several requests to provide information on suspicious and potentially irregular expenditures" made by the mayor.

"The councillors were reportedly "kept in the dark" while being asked to approve payments every month.There are so many shortcomings in financial management that although the Auditor General drew attention to several shortcomings, they remained unaddressed. Moreover, the 2024 financial report has not yet been finalised or submitted," the PL said.

The party rebuffed the Opposition's claims that the motion was "an attack on democracy", pointing out that the three councillors supporting the motion had acted in accordance with the Local Government Act.

"The Labour and Independent Councillors who put forward the vote of no confidence in the Mayor would have failed the residents if they had not done so and are observing the oath they took in their appointment to act without fear or favour. They are doing this as a personal sacrifice for them," the PL spokesperson said.