While the general election resulted in a resounding victory for the Labour Party, the upcoming casual elections mean that the battle for parliamentary seats is under way after a total of 12 candidates hailing from both sides of the political divide were elected on two districts.

According to the regulations on casual elections, the votes of the candidates giving up their seats are distributed among the remaining candidates according to voter preference.

The candidate must win half of the distributed votes plus one in order to be elected.

All candidates contesting in casual elections start with no votes, but some will get back the votes they handed over to the elected candidate when they were eliminated. Candidates who obtained a higher number of first count votes often stand a better chance of being elected, because it is more likely that they received the number two vote preferences from the elected candidates.

The Electoral Commission will hold casual elections to fill the seven extra Labour Party seats in Parliament on Tuesday (20 June), while on Wednesday (21 June) Casual Elections will take place for the additional five PN seats.

Labour Party

District 2

By giving up her seat on the 2^nd district, Minister Helena Dalli has opened the door for blogger and former OPM communications aide Glenn Bedingfield to be elected, after he had received 1,345 votes by the 25^th count, while his closest competitor, former Parliamentary Secretary Stefan Buontempo, received 619 votes after the 21^st count.

District 4

Minister Chris Fearne will relinquish his seat on the 4^th District, giving veteran Etienne Grech the chance to make it to Parliament. Stefan Buontempo, along with candidates Andy Ellul and Joe Cilia, also have a chance of being elected.

District 5

Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi and Glenn Bedingfield could be elected after Prime Minister Joseph Muscat ceded his seat on the 5^th district. However, it seems likely that the former will become an MP, as he finished only 300 votes beneath the quota, while Bedingfield acquired 1,519 votes by the 21^st count.

Luciano Busuttil, Roderick Cachia, Mario Calleja, Joseph Cutajar, Joe Farrugia, Edric Micallef, Sebastian Muscat, Rita Sammut and Carlo Stivala also contested for the PL on this district.

District 6

There will be a two-horse race between Qormi mayor Rosianne Cutajar and Gavin Gulia after Parliamentary Secretary Silvio Schembri vacated his seat on the 6^th District.

However it seems highly likely that Cutajar will receive the seat, given that she received 1,934 first count votes compared to Gulia’s 145.

 

District 8

Former Minister Edward Zammit Lewis is expected to be elected on the 8^th district, after Minister Edward Scicluna vacated his seat. However, Rosianne Cutajar and Rachel Tua could also be elected.

District 9

Minister Michael Falzon will give up his seat on the 9^th District, giving former Minister Manuel Mallia a chance to make it to Parliament. He is currently the favourite to win, while Gzira mayor Conrad Borg Manche is also a possibility for becoming an MP.

Sigmund Mifsud, Nikita Zammit Alamango and Edward Zammit Lewis (who is expected to be elected on the 8^th) all contested here.

District 12

It would appear that Deborah Schembri could be elected after finishing just behind Minister Evarist Bartolo, who is giving up his seat on the district. However, in comments to The Malta Independent, the former Parliamentary Secretary insisted that she considers this is highly unlikely, given that her closest competitor, Clayton Bartolo, will be given an advantage of 1,000 votes transferred to the minister, which will be returned to him.

Nationalist Party

District 7

By ceding his seat on the 7^th district, PN Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami has given Antoine Borg, who was close to be elected with 3,256 votes, the opportunity to make it to parliament.

Sam Abela, Godfrey Farrugia, David Vassallo and Peter Micallef could also be elected, after finishing relatively close to one another with 1,733, 1,514, 1,105 and 856 votes respectively.

District 10

PN stalwart George Pullicino faces a stiff challenge to return to parliament, after Robert Arrigo was made to vacate his seat on the 10^th district by the party, something which he was firmly against. Newcomer Nick Refalo and local councillor Graziella Attard Previ obtained 2,153 and 1,883 votes respectively, compared to Pullicino’s 2,662. But, as explained earlier, candidates start from scratch.

District 11

David Agius and Simon Busuttil vacating their seats has opened the door for two candidates: Mosta Mayor Ivan Bartolo, who obtained a significant 2,163 votes, and former deputy PN general-secretary Alex Perici Calascione, who received 1,269 votes.

Maria Deguara, Alex Mangion, and Graziella Galea could all potentially get elected.

District 13

Marthese Portelli will vacate her 13th district (Gozo) seat, retaining her seat on the 9th district. Kevin Cutajar can potentially take her seat on district 13 after receiving 1,524votes in the general election. Newcomer David Stellini could also be in the race, having obtained 1,078 votes. The return of the votes transferred from these candidates to Portelli give Stellini a good chance.