PN mayor loses confidence vote in stormy Gharghur council meeting
Labour councillor expected to become mayor
Gharghur mayor Helen Gauci lost a confidence vote on Wednesday after a PN councillor resigned from the party, robbing it of its 3-2 majority.
The vote was taken in a stormy meeting of the council characterised by shouting across the council table between Gauci and PL councillor Mariah Meli, who is expected to take over the reins.
Former PN councillor Francesca Attard, who has stayed in the council as an independent, voted with the two Labour councillors. In announcing her resignation from the PN, she said she wanted to work as an independent, free of political party pressure.
Gauci described the motion as undemocratic, saying the will of the majority of voters was being ignored.
“You cannot even pronounce democracy, let alone practice it,” she told the Labour councillors on Wednesday.
They retorted that they had a duty to act after their repeated complaints of bad governance and lack of transparency were ignored.
Gauci denied the claims and insisted that evidence should be produced.
Labour welcomes Gharghur vote
In a statement after the vote, the Labour Party welcomed the outcome, saying this was the first time that Gharghur would have a Labour mayor.
"There is no doubt that the decision of the Labour and independent councillors of Għarghur was taken in the best interest of the residents who deserve the locality to be managed in full transparency as required by good governance," the PL said.
It said that instead of ensuring that its councillors acted with good governance and transparency, the Nationalist Party had tried to disrupt the course of a democratic process that determined the composition of this council.
It urged the PN to respect this result, as, it said, Labour had respected results in other councils that are formed in a similar way.
PN: Robert Abela steamrolls over the people of Għargħur
The Nationalist Party condemned the vote, saying Robert Abela was riding roughshod over the residents of Għargħur by allowing the Labour Party to pass a vote of no confidence, in an overtly anti-democratic move.
It pointed out that in the June council elections, Gauci won more votes than the two Labour councillors and the independent councillor combined.
"Nonetheless, in a blatant attack on democracy driven purely by political motives and orchestrated by the Labour Party, Robert Abela’s Labour today betrayed the interests of the people of Għargħur simply to seize control of the Local Council against the majority’s will. After capturing national institutions, Abela is now grabbing hold of a council with a clear PN majority just to maintain control," the PN said.
The Partit Nazzjonalista reminds the public that 11 months ago, the PN Local Councillors achieved a clear and absolute majority of over 62% of the vote in the Għargħur Local Council election. The Mayor alone garnered 869 votes – 43% of the total – while the Councillors who removed her from office received a combined total of 783 votes.
Yet through the manoeuvres of recent days, culminating this evening with the approval of the Labour Party’s top leadership, the will of the majority is no longer reflected in the leadership of the Għargħur Local Council.