Updated 5.50pm

PN MEP candidate Peter Agius said on Monday that he lives in an unfinished apartment in Mosta, rebutting criticism over the address listed on the ballot sheet pointing to a seemingly empty apartment block in Mosta.

Agius was replying to questions from journalists during a press conference held on Monday afternoon, after photos emerged over the weekend showing that his registered address in Mosta’s Triq ir-Rebbiegħa was a seemingly uninhabited apartment.

Asked by journalists where he lived and slept when in Malta, Agius said: “I live in my office in Mosta. I have a base in Malta and another in Brussels. My house is in Mosta. I am finishing it, and I put my office on the ground floor.”

Electoral Commission rules state that prospective candidates must list their address as it appears on the electoral register when submitting their nomination.

A planning application on the property submitted in late 2020, says that the property, once a single-storey dwelling, will be turned into a five-storey structure consisting of a ground floor maisonette and two duplex apartments.

Although works on the building appear to be in an advanced stage, the duplex apartments on the upper floors lack apertures and appear to be in shell form.

One of the building’s two entrances on the ground floor, leading to the maisonette, is sealed off by an aluminium door bearing Agius’ image and his campaign motto “Enerġija Ġdida”. (A new energy)

The planning application shows that the door leads to a one-bedroom maisonette with an open-plan kitchen and living area at the entrance to the property.

Agius later updated a video on Facebook to show that the office is being used. 

This is not the first time that a seemingly empty housing block has entered the fray during this election campaign.

In a case instituted by PN, a court found last month that 99 voters who were registered to an empty apartment block in Siġġiewi had been manipulated into making false declarations.

Labour: No limit to PN hypocrisy

In a reaction, the Labour Party said there was no limit to PN hypocrisy and arrogance.  

"The PN took people to court so that they would not be allowed to do what Peter Agius is doing," it said, in a reference to the Siġġiewi case.  

PN replies in kind

The Nationalist Party replied in kind, saying the PL was trying to justify its electoral fraud in Siġġiewi by lying about Peter Agius. 

But Agius had shown that his residence was not shell form, as Labour had alleged.

"The Labour Party should stop trying to justify its wrongs but inventing lies on others," the PN said.