Graziella Galea is considering standing for Nationalist Party deputy leader after being approached by “several people” to contest the post.
The MP said she has not discounted a tilt at the job, which leader Bernard Grech has previously said should be filled by a woman.
“I have been approached by several people to contest this role, possibly as I was the only woman on the PN ticket to be elected in the first round of the last general election,” Galea told Times of Malta.
“So far, I have not made a decision. As I have always done before, I will serve the party where it is in the best interest of the party. My decision will reflect this.”
Three days to submissions deadline
Galea is the only woman PN MP to have been successful in the first round of the March 2022 elections. The others were elected either through the casual election process or the new gender quota mechanism.
No contenders have yet come forward for the deputy leadership position, with three days to go until the June 18 deadline to submit applications.
MPs Janice Chetcuti and outgoing deputy leader David Agius have not ruled themselves out of the race.
Chetcuti told Times of Malta she would go “where the party needs me” while Agius said he would comment on his decision “at a later time”.
A number of other MPs have said they will not contest.
Robert Arrigo, who has served as Nationalist deputy leader for five years, has already said he will not seek election to any post within the party. Mark Anthony Sammut and Joe Giglio have both ruled out a run, citing their status as newly elected MPs.
Galea had been co-opted to parliament
Galea, a former St Paul’s Bay councillor and mayor, spent a short stint in parliament in the previous legislature.
In January, she was co-opted to Parliament to replace MP David Thake, who resigned his parliamentary seat after Times of Malta reported that his company owed some €270,000 in unpaid VAT dues.
Galea is the daughter of PN veteran Ċensu Galea who served as transport and communications minister as well as deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.
Those interested in the post of deputy leader have until Saturday to submit their application. The party has reduced the number of deputy leaders from two to one after recent changes to its statute.
Anyone who passes a subsequent due diligence process, would then be formally nominated for the post.
The deputy leadership election was mandatory after the Nationalist Party lost the last election and follows the leadership election that saw Grech reconfirmed with over 80 per cent of the vote.