The Nationalist Party said this evening that it has 'reprimanded' Emanuel Delia for representing himself as a prospective candidate in facebook comments.

"All candidates contesting General Elections are approved by the PN Executive Committee, the PN said.

"With reference to a post appearing on Facebook, the PN states that Emanuel Delia is not an approved candidate for the General Elections," the Pn said.

Mr Delia, the head of secretariat in Austin Gatt's ministry and one of the architects of the bus service reform, has said he intends to stand as a general election candidate on the fifth district, the district contested by Franco Debono, who last Friday abstained in a no-confidence vote against Dr Gatt.

Questioned on PBS last Saturday on whether Mr Delia's candidacy was a factor, Dr Debono said that he had been elected when his district was contested by such stalwarts as Louis Galea, Ninu Zammit and Helen D'Amato and therefore nothing had changed for him with Mr Delia's candidacy.