Edward Zammit Lewis says deputy leader party affairs should not be an MP

Edward Zammit Lewis believes the post of Labour deputy leader party affairs should not be occupied by an MP, effectively ruling himself out from the upcoming race.

The Justice Minister has urged the party to review the role of the person occupying the post to be more focussed on the party.

“As a person who loves the Labour Party, I believe the person occupying the role should not be a member of parliament, so that they would be unencumbered by the electoral raceon a district level and be more focussed on the party, more so when we are in government,” he wrote on Facebook.

A vacancy for the post has arisen after Chris Cardona’s resignation this morning.

The party statute had been changed in 2016 to allow MPs to contest the post of deputy leader party affairs. The change was pushed by then leader Joseph Muscat, who wanted Konrad Mizzi to replace the outgoing Toni Abela.

Mizzi resigned a couple of months later after he was embroiled in the Panama Papers scandal.

Eventually, Cardona was elected to replace him in a race against Owen Bonnici.

Zammit Lewis’s call effectively rules him out of the race but it also reflects a wide sentiment within the PL’s rank and file that the deputy leader party affairs should not be an MP to be able to focus more on the party structures.

The father of current party leader Robert Abela, George Abela, had occupied the role of deputy leader party affairs between 1992 and 1998 and never contested the general election.

Abela’s successor, Joe Brincat was an MP and contested the subsequent general election.

When Brincat resigned after the 2003 election, his post was taken by Michael Falzon, who was not an MP. However, Falzon contested the 2008 general election.

After Joseph Muscat’s election as leader in 2008, Toni Abela went on to win the deputy leadership post for party affairs on the pledge that he will not contest the general election.

The statute had also been amended to exclude MPs from the role, only to be changed again in 2016.