Former PL mayor to contest election on Nationalist Party ticket

Charles Azzopardi will be competing in the seventh district under the Nationalist Party

Charles Azzopardi observing the vote-counting during a by-election in January
Charles Azzopardi observing the vote-counting during a by-election in January

Former Labour Party mayor Charles Azzopardi will be contesting the next general election on the Nationalist Party ticket.

Azzopardi, who lost a by-election for a parliamentary seat last January, announced on Sunday that he has been approved to contest with the Nationalist Party on the seventh electoral district.

"I don't want to see Malta continue to be ruled on a lie by Joseph Muscat. A movement that promised an earthquake, as actually happened. A government of plots, frameups, scandals, impunity and corruption. For all this, the worker pays and the country's reputation suffers," he wrote on Facebook.

25.IV.2021 Irridu nwelldu mill-ġdid t-tamiet għal dan il-pajjiż. Ħadd minnha ma jista' jibqa' sieket u indifferenti...

Posted by Charles Azzopardi on Saturday, April 24, 2021

"This cleansing can never be done by those who have brought this country to the brink."

Charles Azzopardi was the first to be eliminated during last January's by-election. Gavin Gulia eventually won the seat for parliament, but resigned right after taking oath in parliament.

It was widely speculated that this was done in order to make way for a Labour Party co-option.

Azzopardi subsequently took to Facebook to say that Gulia's move signalled the death of the country’s democracy. 

READ ALSO: ‘Don’t call me or send people to my house’, Charles Azzopardi tells Prime Minister

Previous to this, Azzopardi was not allowed by the PL to contest the 2019 local elections on its behalf following allegations of corruption and nepotism when he was mayor. No charges have ever been filed against him despite a police investigation into the claims.