Three nominations so far for casual election to replace Jean-Pierre Debono

The Electoral Commission has announced that three candidates who contested the last general election, have so far submitted their nominations to contest next week’s casual election. Sam Abela, Dounia Borg and David Vassallo will by vying for the seventh district seat vacated last Sunday by Jean-Pierre Debono.

The Electoral Commission notified that it will be receiving candidates’ nominations for the casual election to elect a member of Parliament, with those who were not elected being able to submit their nomination between 26 September and 30 September.

The casual election to replace Jean Pierre Debono on the 7th district, will occur on 3 October, from 9am onwards.

Debono resigned on Sunday 24 September, allowing for the co-option of newly elected Nationalist party leader Adrian Delia. However, a casual election is still required, with the elected candidate then being required to choose not to take up his seat in parliament.

As it stands, all PN candidates have pledged to resign their seat to Delia, if they are elected via the casual election.

On the other hand, the Partit Demokratiku, which contested the election on the PN’s ticket, has said that it’s candidates would run in the casual election, despite the fact that it did not stand a chance of being elected

The party said it had no faith in Delia's ability to lead the party, arguing that his credentials "will not go far in giving credibility to the Opposition or potential alternative government it aims to portray."