Valletta's former mayor Alfred Zammit has hinted that he is open to quitting Labour, saying some people within the party worked against him in the run-up to last month's local council elections. 

Zammit, who was reelected to the Valletta council but displaced as mayor, wrote on social media that he has an "independent mind".  

“This is my seat and I am not one to be indoctrinated," he wrote. "I will continue to work with the party, but I am not excluding the idea of making certain moves, especially if I see that certain shortcomings are not being corrected."

Zammit was mayor of Valletta from 2019 until last month, when he placed second among Labour candidates behind Olaf McKay, with just 32 votes between the two.

Following the election, talk about Zammit's relationship with Labour was filled when he was the only elected Valletta local councillor notably absent from the swearing-in ceremony.

Zammit was sworn in as a councillor separately, days later, posting a photo of that on his social media page and telling followers he has an "independent mind". 

 

He told Times of Malta that he wanted to send a message by being sworn in separately.

"I did it alone to send a message, because people from the party actively worked against me," Zammit said. 

"When I say the party, I do not mean high up, but during the reelection campaign, I felt very underappreciated by the party. Especially after how hard I worked."

Although a Labour councillor, Zammit is now very much the odd one out: when new mayor Olaf McKay distributed portfolios among councillors, Zammit was not assigned any specific role.

Zammit told Times of Malta he was proud to have worked with people of different political beliefs during his time as mayor, and proudly proclaimed himself a socialist.

He said he had been a socialist since his youth and was even the president of the Socialist Youth Union from 1987 to 1990.

Zammit said, “I have always been a true socialist. To me, socialism isn’t about just helping yourself and putting money in your pocket. It is about actually helping your fellow man and community.”