PN vets Norman Vella's MEP candidature

Former television presenter Norman Vella today said that the Nationalist Party commission screening possible candidates for the forthcoming European elections has interviewed him.

Talking on RTK Radio, Vella said that he is yet to be officially approved by the PN's higher echelons, however the former television host said that he would be "honoured" if he would make it on the list of PN candidates.

Asked when the PN would announce its second batch of candidates, Vella said that he did not know when such an announce ,menmt would be made adding that it should happen in the coming days or weeks. After first being touted as a possible candidate following his brief arrest at the Malta International Airport in November, the immigration officer had told MaltaToday: "I do not exclude anything."

Asked whether he had been approached by the PN to contest the May 2014 elections, Vella said, "I neither confirm nor deny it."

In November, the former TVHemm presenter asked Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to investigate an alleged abuse of power by the Police after a Magistrate ordered the return of his mobile phone and tablet.

Vella was arrested for allegedly snapping pictures of Head of Government Communications Kurt Farrugia and Home Affairs Ministry communications coordinator Ramona Attard as they passed through passport control, at the Malta International Airport, where Vela works at the immigration department.

The court declared that there was no reasonable suspicion that Vella had committed a crime and ordered that his smartphone and tablet be returned immediately by the police.

Upon the court's decision, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil described the ruling as "a victory for freedom."

As a former broadcaster, Vella had availed himself of unpaid leave from his civil service position to work for production house Where's Everybody and was then seconded to the public broadcaster's newsroom in 2012. After the March elections he was placed back at the border control post.

The PN has so far selected eight candidates for the 2014 European election; incumbents David Casa and Roberta Metsola, entrepreneurs Helga Ellul and Jonathan Shaw, lawyers Stefano Mallia, Kevin Cutajar and Therese Commodini Cachia and PN youth section president Kevin Plumpton.

At first glance, the list of PN candidates contesting next year's European elections includes a balance between youth and experience, women and men and seasoned politicians and newcomers.

However, in the absence of PN Leader Simon Busuttil, who will not be contesting the elections after nine reasonably successful years in Brussels, and the Labour Party's star-studded line-up, the PN lacks a heavyweight candidate to spearhead the nationwide campaign.

In the two previous European elections, the PN campaign was led single-handedly by Busuttil, who to this day holds the record for the highest number of votes ever garnered by a candidate in a single election.

In the two previous elections, the PN only elected two candidates, Busuttil and David Casa, and the PN has openly set its sights on winning an unprecedented three seats.

More recently, the Labour Party announced three new candidates on its ticket for the European elections; sitting MP Deborah Schembri, a Muslim community representative Mario Farrugia Borg, and economist and university lecturer Fleur Vella.