Updated 10.10am

Ramona Attard gave up her post on the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal before throwing her name in the hat for the role of Labour Party president. 

She made the announcement on Monday after NGO Republika called for her resignation from the tribunal.

While congratulating Attard for her appointment, Repubblika said that in the spirit of good governance and justice, her new role renders untenable her position on the tribunal.

"We would like to point out that this tribunal is a quasi-judicial body which is meant to be independent of the government, and not its tool.

"We had already criticised Attard’s nomination to the tribunal a few days after  Joseph Muscat’s resignation. She had occupied a position of trust as consultant to [the former prime minister]," the NGO said.

Attard responded within minutes, writing on Facebook that she had handed in her resignation as EPRT president "even before I collected my nomination as Labour Party president".