Rosianne Cutajar will keep her parliamentary seat and continue to represent those that voted for her, the independent MP said on Monday.

Entering parliament in a session where Labour and PN MPs voted in favour of removing her from a parliamentary committee she chaired, Cutajar said she was feeling “serene” about that decision. 

“I am feeling very serene,” Cutajar said when asked if she felt betrayed by the Labour Party. 

Asked on camera if she felt she still had the trust of her constituents, Cutajar said she will stay in parliament to represent those that voted for her.

“I will keep my parliamentary seat to continue representing the 2,200 persons who gave me their first preference vote,” she said, entering parliament as the day’s parliamentary session was drawing to a close.  

Cutajar made the brief comment to Times of Malta as she entered parliament.  

In a motion put forward by the government, parliament agreed to kick Cutajar off the social affairs committee, replacing her with PL MP Randolph Debattista.  Another Labour MP, Katya De Giovanni, will now chair the committee. 

Cutajar was seen mingling with PL MPs in the half-hour she spent in the house with some greeting her warmly and others giving her “the cold shoulder”. She was sitting in her usual place on the Labour side, one source said. 

Cutajar resigned from the PL parliamentary group at the start of April, minutes before a joint PL executive and parliamentary group meeting that would have voted on expelling her was set to meet. 

It came after former book council chairman Mark Camilleri leaked more than 2,200 messages between Cutajar and bsusinessman Yorgen Fenech at a time when she was publicly dismissing calls to investigate suspected corruption linked to him. 

The chats revealed a close and intimate relationship between the two. 

However, Cutajar decided to keep her parliamentary seat as an independent MP but said that she will remain “consistent with labour values”.