Ray Abela elected to parliament following second casual election
He took Carmelo Abela's third district seat
Ray Abela was elected to parliament on Friday in a casual election.
He will take Carmelo Abela's third district seat after he resigned his parliamentary post to become speaker of the House.
This will be Abela's second stint in parliament after he was elected in 2022, also in a casual election.
This time around, however, Abela needed two casual elections before getting a parliamentary seat.
He initially did not make it in the first casual election earlier this month, when Andy Ellul was elected for the seat given up by Chris Fearne.
Friday's casual election, which saw Martina Buhagiar, James Grech, and Eric Plumpton also vie for a seat together with Abela, lasted for less than 10 seconds.
Computer technology, which counted the ballots that were already scanned on the day following the election, resulted in Abela comfortably being elected on the first count with over 2,000 votes.
Abela said he was not disappointed that he needed two casual elections to make it to parliament, in reply to questions by Times of Malta.
"I thank the electorate for their support, it's an honour to represent the Maltese people," he said.
Abela said he will remain focused on remaining close to his constituents in the coming years.
Abela - known as tat-TCTC (a computer courses company) - said he will continue to push the government to embrace new technology, including Artificial Intelligence.
In the previous legislation, Abela chaired parliamentary committees on technology.
Throughout the last four-year legislature, Abela remained a backbencher.
On this, Abela said that whether he got a secretariat or a ministry was entirely up to the prime minister.
"Wherever I serve, I do so for the people and not personal ambition".