The Nationalist Party is mulling putting forward three names for president, including magistrate Joe Mifsud. 

Former PN minister Dolores Cristina and Caritas PR officer Marica Cassar are the party's two other potential picks. 

A discussion on the nominations was shut down during a PN parliamentary group meeting this week, as MPs advised leader Bernard Grech that now was not the right time to put forward these proposals. 

The MPs said the benefits fraud case should take precedence over any discussion on potential nominees for president. 

George Vella's term as president is set to next April. 

His successor must be chosen by a two-thirds majority in parliament. 

MaltaToday reported on Sunday that MPs were surprised by the inclusion of Mifsud and Cassar on the list. 

Mifsud, a sitting magistrate, had close ties to the Labour Party before being nominated to the bench in June 2015 by then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. 

Cassar, who served as a communications official during president George Abela's time, is married to Joe Cassar, an editor within Media.Link, the PN's media arm. 

Cristina, a former education minister, served as acting president between 2013 and 2022. 

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