Parliament suspended for over two weeks

The government and the opposition have agreed to suspend Parliament for over two weeks pending a casual election to fill the seat to be vacated by EU commissioner-designate John Dalli.

Parliament will not meet between February 10 and March 1 under an agreement reached during a House Business Committee yesterday morning.

Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg, who is leader of the House, said the decision was an issue of management and had nothing to do with pairing.

Mr Dalli, the Social Policy Minister, is expected to vacate his parliamentary seat later this month when he officially takes up his post as EU commissioner.

Should Parliament remain sitting, Mr Dalli's resignation could result in voting parity given that the government has a one-seat majority and there is no pairing agreement with the opposition.

Once Mr Dalli steps down, a casual election will have to be held in the sixth district to replace him. Dr Borg explained this had to take place even if there was only one candidate for the seat. The candidate would have to achieve at least half the quota, or 1,878 votes, to be elected. The government would otherwise be free to co-opt whoever it wished.

Speaker Louis Galea's recently-announced nomination to the European Court of Auditors has left only two people with a chance of replacing Mr Dalli in Parliament through the casual election. These are Siġġiewi mayor Robert Musumeci and Żebbuġ local councillor Peter Micallef. Both are still undecided about whether to contest.

Mr Musumeci would start the casual election with 165 votes, the number inherited by Mr Dalli when Mr Musumeci was eliminated in the general election. This would give him a head start over Dr Micallef who would start the race with zero votes.