Birkirkara councillor ditches Labour to run as independent in June’s local election

Local elections on 8 June may be overshadowed by the nationwide European election but they could very well turn out to be a hotbed for independent candidates.

After the incredible success of Steve Zammit Lupi five years ago when he ran on an independent ticket and got elected on the Żebbuġ council, 2024 could be the year of the independents.

Apart from Zammit Lupi, who is expected to contest once again, the latest addition to what promises to be a growing list of independents is Kaylocke Buhagiar in Birkirkara.

Buhagiar who was elected on a Labour ticket five years ago has announced he will be contesting the local election as an independent this time around.

The young man, who has adopted the slogan ‘A Vision We Will Achieve Together’, is promising “leadership that is focussed, serious, full of energy and above all that loves and unites Birkirkara”.

Buhagiar obtained 329 votes on the first count in 2019, the fourth highest scoring PL candidate.

The PL obtained 52.2% of the vote in 2019, winning a majority of seats on the 13-seat council. Birkirkara has seven Labour and six Nationalist councillors.

The PL had also won a majority of votes and seats in Birkirkara in the previous election in 2013 but the locality had in the past elected a PN majority.

It remains to be seen whether Buhagiar’s run as an independent will dent the dominance of the two major parties but Birkirkara is no stranger to third party politics either. In 2003, Birkirkara voters elected an Alternattiva Demokratika candidate to serve on the council, a feat that had already been repeated several years earlier.

Local elections will be held in all towns and villages across Malta and Gozo on 8 June.