Labour announced its nine European Parliament election candidates on Friday morning with a group photo that noticeably did not include sitting MEP Cyrus Engerer or former prime minister Joseph Muscat. 

With just three days to go until the deadline for nominations, Engerer has still not confirmed whether he will run for election. 

Also missing from the photo is Muscat, who was recently the subject of speculations started by PL pundit Emanuel Cuschieri about the former premier's return to politics. 

On Wednesday Muscat's close friend and former Labour general secretary Jason Micallef announced that the former party leader would not stand for the European Parliament elections. However, Muscat later refused to confirm. 

The image of a selfie, taken by sitting MEP and Labour's most popular candidate Alex Agius Saliba was published on the party's social media with the caption: "The nomination for the election of June 8. Together."

The image shows the nine candidates - seven men and two women - at the Naxxar counting hall.

They are:

• Gozitan Thomas Bajada;
• Former Mtarfa mayor Daniel Attard;
• Former MEP Claudette Abela Baldacchino;
• Former Project Green CEO Steve Ellul;
• Gudja mayor Sara Marija Vella Gafa;
• Former UĦM President Jesmond Bonello;
• Economist Clint Azzopardi Flores;
• Trade unionist Jesmond Marshall and;
• Sitting MEP Alex Agius Saliba 

Together with PN's Roberta Metsola, Agius Saliba is a clear front-runner in the race for a seat at the European Parliament, according to a recent Times of Malta poll.

Former One journalist Abela Baldacchino is another candidate with some experience in the EP, where she served as Labour MEP between 2013 and 2014. 

Ellul, former Project Green CEO, is a financial analyst and lecturer at the University of Malta. During his Project Green tenure, tasked with implementing the government’s ambitious urban greening project, he was on a €81,000 pay package.

Vella Gafa recently made headlines for the wrong reasons - when she said environmental rangers were out in "exaggerated" numbers in the Maltese countryside. 

The Gudja mayor, who also works at the Environment Ministry, had said on Facebook she wanted a "balance" between environmental protection and people's right to practice their "pastimes" - a euphemism commonly used for hunting and trapping.