Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina has attended all but one of the 287 parliamentary sittings held during this legislature, with his only absence being due to the Opposition’s boycott staged last month.

Carmelo Abela placed bottom of the table having only attended half the sittings (144) but his absence was mostly due to official commitments abroad, as he served as foreign minister until recently.

Details on the MPs’ attendance from the start of this legislature in June 2017 up to last December, were tabled in Parliament by Speaker Anġlu Farrugia on Monday, in reply to a parliamentary question filed by Dr Aquilina himself.

PN MPs Clyde Puli and Claudette Buttigieg placed second with 270 presences, followed by Toni Bezzina, David Agius and Deo Debattista with 268.

Dr Debattista had the most attendance among government MPs.

Prime Minister Robert Abela attended 240 sittings, his predecessor Joseph Muscat was present on 205 occasions while Opposition leader Adrian Delia attended 224 sittings.

Former European Affairs minister Helena Dalli placed second from bottom also due to commitments abroad, attending 150 sittings, followed by former minister Konrad Mizzi who was only present on 166 occasions.

MPs who could not attend due to government commitments including trips abroad, party matters or separate parliamentary duties were not marked as absent but excused.

It transpires that government MPs accounted for 873 unjustified absences, which is significantly higher than the respective figure for the Opposition which stands at 685. However, the difference is largely due to the fact that there are seven more government MPs on the government’s side.

The average unexcused absences per MP is nearly equal with 24 sittings for government MPs and 23 for Opposition legislators.

A closer analysis of the attendance table reveals that Dr Abela ranks in sixth place for the highest number of unexcused absences which total 35, along with Edwin Vassallo and Edward Zammit Lewis.

Dr Delia is in mid-table with 28.

In the case of Marlene Farrugia, who tops the list of unexcused absences, she was present 171 times, was missing on 47 occasions and was excused for 67 sittings, while there were two instances in which she was excused due to party commitments.

Former minister Chris Cardona attended 188 sittings, missed 41 and was excused due to government commitments on 58 occasions.

Since 2016, MPs who do not turn up for a parliamentary sitting for no reason incur a €50 fine. However, in circumstances whereby the House meets twice or even three times a day, such as during Budget time, MPs can avoid getting fined if they attend just one of the sessions.

Consequently, the number of absences for each respective members does not necessarily translate into a €50 fine. MPs who miss a sitting in order to attend a parliamentary committee are also excused.