Injunction to stop PL councillor from replacing former PN mayor

Nationalist Party says law stipulates that a mayor’s place can only be filled in by someone from the same party which got majority of first-count votes in local elections. Injunction is being withheld in court.

15 January 2018, 1:10pm

2 min read

The Nationalist Party has filed an injunction to stop the St Paul’s Bay local council from replacing former PN mayor Graziella Galea, who resigned her position last week, with a Labour local councillor.

The injunction is now being provisionally withheld in court, as per normal procedure.

In a press statement, the Nationalist Party said that general secretary Clyde Puli had filed the injunction to protect the will of the people and of the town’s local councillors, who in the last local council election voted, in their majority, for a Nationalist local council.

“The Nationalist Party put forth this injunction based on what is stipulated in the local council law, regarding what the procedure should be in the case of the resignation of a mayor. The law stipulates that a mayor’s place should only be filled by a person affiliated with the same party which obtained the largest amount of first-count votes in the local council elections,” the statement said.

“The law is clear when it comes to what should happen if a mayor resigns. The people of St Paul’s Bay also spoke clearly in the last local council election. Labour Party councillors, together with the so-called independent councillors, have done all they could, throughout this legislature, to create disorder. They brought forward a motion of no confidence in the former mayor so as to have her replaced with a Labour mayor, and they are interpreting the law in the way it bests suits.”

The PN said it was thus filing the injunction to ensure that the will of St Paul’s Bay residents was respected.

The injunction was signed by lawyers Carm Mifsud Bonnici and Errol Cutajar.