Sharon Ellul Bonici, former MEP candidate, dies aged 55

Sharon Ellul Bonici, a former Labour candidate for the European Parliament, has died aged 55.

Her death was announced by her brother, junior minister Andy Ellul.

“I will keep remembering you like this, full of life and happiness. You left us too soon. Fly high sis,” Ellul wrote.

Andy Ellul's post.

Among those who paid tribute to her memory was PN MEP David Casa, who said he was shocked by the news of her passing. 

"Although she was once a rival, more than anything I considered her a friend," Casa wrote. 

Prime Minister Robert Abela praised her as "a progressive voice who always battled the status quo".

He also alluded to the death of one of her sons, who died five years ago. 

"She experienced the tragic loss of her son some years ago, but did everything to remain full of life and joyful," Abela wrote. 

Ellul Bonici, who described herself as a “Eurorealist” politician, was the founding secretary general of the European Alliance for Freedom, a pan-European eurosceptic party established in 2010. The party was dissolved in 2016.

She made her mark in local politics as part of the eurosceptic wing of the Labour Party. Her first bid to run as a Labour MEP candidate, in 2004, was blocked by the party over concerns about her anti-EU views. Five years later, the party agreed to field her as a candidate but she was not elected.

In a 2008 Times of Malta interview, she said she felt comfortable within Labour despite her euroscepticism.  

"Having different shades in a political party is healthy. Our foundation should be our social democratic principles. I consider myself to be a social libertarian, so the left is still my home," she said. 

Ellul Bonici was married and had three children.

Her funeral will be held on Tuesday, September 2 at Christ the King Basilica Paola at 10am.