Albert Buttigieg is Nationalist Party’s newest MP in casual election for 10th district seat

Albert Buttigieg has been elected in the casual election for the vacant seat of the late Robert Arrigo, who died last week.

Buttigieg is mayor of St Julian’s.

The 10th district seat was left vacant after the death of long-serving MP and former PN deputy leader Robert Arrigo.

Buttigieg obtained 2,122 votes from the ballots of Arrigo, which were electronically counted to calculate which runner-up had received the most preferences after the first-count vote for Arrigo.

Apart from Buttigieg and Portelli Bonnici, former Nationalist MP Karl Gouder was also eligible to contest the casual election. He did not submit the nomination.

The nominations also put an end to speculation that the PN was considering co-opting deputy leader Alex Perici Calascione. 

Albert Buttigieg is a campaigner for residential rights and environmental causes, and as St Julian’s mayor championed the fight against overdevelopment in his and surrounding towns. He has previously complained that ‘fat cat’ developers had actively petitioned PN aides to prevent him from being elected as MP.