Malta could have up to four female representatives in the European Parliament, if all four MEPs contesting the 9 March general election are successful in their bid to be elected in parliament.
MEPs must resign their Brussels post if they are elected to the House of Representatives. A casual election would then need to be held to replace them in the EP. Candidates who contested the MEP election in 2009 must submit their application to contest any casual election to fill in any vacancy that occurs.
In the Nationalist camp Roberta Metsola Tedesco Triccas and Marthese Portelli, who garnered 5,880 and 5,245 first count votes respectively in the 2009 European Parliament election, are in pole position to be elected should Simon Busuttil and David Casa both be successful in their bid. GRTU Director-General Vince Farrugia is third in line, having obtained 4,056 first-count votes.
Should Marthese Portelli (who is now contesting the general election) be elected to the House of Representatives, Mr Farrugia's chances would get a boost, as she would most likely not contest the casual election for a seat in the European Parliament.
However casual elections can be quite unpredictable, as the successful candidate might not necessarily be the one having the highest number of first-count votes due to the transfer of votes.
Dr Busuttil’s election to parliament should be a formality, both because he is the PN deputy leader as well due to his popularity, having obtained a record number of votes in the 2009 European Parliament election. The PN deputy leader is contesting the ninth and 11th electoral districts.
On the other hand PN MEP David Casa who is contesting the fifth and sixth electoral districts, will have a much tougher nut to crack.
On the other side of the fence, the most likely to be elected are Marlene Mizzi and Claudette Abela Baldacchino who obtained 17,724 and 12,309 first-count votes respectively. Mrs Mizzi might consider herself unlucky not to have been elected at the first time of asking, four years ago.
Though she initially had a healthy lead over Labour MEP John Attard Montalto whose chances seemed rather slim having obtained 12,880 first-count votes, the latter staged an unexpected comeback at her expense. In the 25th count Dr Attard Montalto inherited the vast majority of votes when Claudette Abela Baldacchino was eliminated and overtook Mrs Mizzi.
Much like his PN counterpart, Labour MEP Louis Grech, who will be contesting the first electoral district is expected to ease through the electoral test, since he is now deputy leader for party affairs, after the unexpected resignation of Anglu Farrugia last month.
The other Labour MEP contesting the general election is veteran economist Edwards Scicluna, who is being tipped by some as the next finance minister due to his experience in the financial sector. Dr Scicluna, who was touted as one of Labour’s star candidates, will be contesting the fifth and eight electoral districts.