Ħal Farruġ has a full-blown political crisis on its hands.

The tiny community on the outskirts of Luqa is struggling to find enough candidates willing to form its administrative committee... and it’s not the only one.

A similar situation has arisen in Bubaqra, Paceville and Fleur de Lys.

In fact, of the 16 hamlets where residents have the right to elect their representatives for a four-year term – in elections set to coincide with those of the European Parliament on May 24 – the level of interest in contesting is so low that only five ballots will be necessary.

In the remaining 11 cases the number of candidates is either equal to or below the number of seats up for grabs.

The level of interest is so low that only five ballots will be necessary

In Ħal Farruġ, there are only two nominations for the five-seat administrative committee.

The Electoral Commission has only received four each for Bubaqra, Paceville and Fleur de Lys.

The creation of administrative committees in 2009 was meant to have been the next step in the decentralisation of power following the introduction of local councils some 15 years earlier.

By law these committees have to be allocated a budget by their council and can even apply for EU funds.

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil yesterday blamed the Labour Party for the lack of interest, saying it had snubbed the administrative committees and in some cases did not even field any candidates.

Addressing a news conference to introduce the PN candidates for these elections, he said this year was a case in point: Labour is fielding 24 candidates to the PN’s 52.

He also accused Labour of cutting local councils’ funding and of undermining their autonomy by overruling them on a number of issues such as residential parking schemes. By law, whenever there are not enough candidates for an administrative committee, those submitting their nomination are automatically elected.

The commission would then issue a fresh call for nominations for the remaining seats. If this also falls short, the elected members would co-opt the required number.