Former Nationalist Party deputy leader David Agius has confirmed that he is 'seriously considering' the possibility of contesting next year's European Parliament elections.

Party sources said he is being pushed to put his name in the hat in the hope of garnering grassroots support.

The PN is attempting to regain the third European Parliament seat that it lost in the 2019 election.

In that election, the Labour Party won 54.2 per cent of the vote, with 141,267 votes. The PN got 98,611, equivalent to 37.9 per cent – its worst-ever showing at the polls

The Labour Party won four of the six seats up for grabs – Miriam Dalli, Alfred Sant, Alex Agius Saliba and Josianne Cutajar. Dalli later resigned after winning a seat in the national parliament.  She was replaced by Cyrus Engerer.

The other two seats went to Nationalist Party incumbents Roberta Metsola and David Casa.

Turnout in 2019 dipped by more than two percentage points when compared to the 2014 EP election, with roughly 100,000 registered voters – 27.3 per cent – not bothering to vote.

It continued a trend seen at each European Parliament election in Malta. The most significant dip was in PN-leaning districts.

The sources said Agius, a strong PN loyalist, could help bring back the votes the party lost over the years. They said his position within the party could see him winning votes from all sides, including those in the party grassroots who still support former leader Adrian Delia.

Agius was elected to Malta's parliament in the last five general elections and is currently deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.  

He is also vice president of the workers’ section within the European People’s Party, a position he has held for the last 15 years.

The PN executive last week approved the candidature of Metsola and Casa as well as lawyer Peter Agius, who also contested the last round of MEP elections, obtaining 10,500 votes.

Peter Agius, 43, works in Brussels as a lawyer and European law negotiator and previously headed the Office of the EU parliament in Malta and served in the cabinet of former European parliament president Antonio Tajani.

He was also the PN’s spokesperson before last year’s general election.