Leader of the Opposition Simon Busuttil said this morning that a Nationalist government would nominate members to the judiciary on the recommendations of the Justice System Reform Commission led by Judge Giovanni Bonello.

His comments come during a press conference which laid out the Opposition’s reaction to the “unconstitutional” cabinet approved magistrate nominations of Caroline Farrugia Frendo and Ingrid Zammit Young.

Dr Busuttil spoke of the party’s three main objections, namely that they are “both in clear breach of the constitution,” the fact that they were presented as appointments and not nominations is “clearly in breach of the principle of meritocracy” and lastly that they fly in the face of “transparency and fairness.”

With regard to Caroline Farrugia Frendo, daughter of Anglu Farrugia, Speaker of the House, he said that this is “blatant nepotism”.

He made a number of demands, including that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat immediately withdraw Dr Farrugia Frendo’s appointment, that political responsibility is shouldered and that transparency and competitiveness be brought into the judiciary selection process.

“The government had an enormous pool of lawyers from which it could have chosen a magistrate to nominate. It is completely ridiculous that we are in this situation,” he said.