Mr Bugeja, who served as Malta Labour Party mayor during the previous legislation, refused to sign in with his fellow Marsaxlokk councillors at the swearing-in ceremony held last week at the Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa.

He waited for all the other councillors to sign in, before he approached the desk for his own swearing-in and even refused to line up for the group picture.

The Malta Independent contacted newly-appointed Marsaxlokk mayor Edrik Micallef who confirmed that Mr Bugeja was the only one to vote against the nominations. Asked whether he thought that Mr Bugeja will keep the protest with the council, the mayor said, “We will have to wait and see what will happen in the rest of the council meetings”. TMID contacted Mr Bugeja for the reasons behind his protest. He said the MLP councillors had spread rumours about him and made unsubstantiated allegations. When asked, he however failed to give an example of the allegations.

He claimed that the problem was an old one, going back some 20 years. The MLP local committee had taken over the Marsaxlokk Labour Party club, he said, accusing the committee of mounting a campaign against him before the election.

Asked whether he will cooperate with the council on the day-to-day matters, Mr Bugeja said it depended on the issue, pointing out, however, that he had recently declined to attend a Mass organised by the council.

MLP official Joe Falzon, when contacted by TMID, explained that the party had asked Mr Bugeja not to present himself under the party’s name in the 12 June local council elections following a decision by the party’s executive committee. The party had decided on this course of action because Mr Bugeja’s behaviour during previous local council meetings had not been compatible with the party’s policy, Mr Falzon said.

Asked to react to Mr Bugeja’s allegations that the MLP local committee had spread rumours against him, Mr Falzon stated that the allegations were false, saying that all the party did was explain to its supporters the MLP’s decision regarding Mr Bugeja.

Floriana local council also has some issues to iron out. In a recent meeting the council did not managed to come up with the names of the mayor and his deputy. However, there will be another meeting on Friday, an official at the council told TMID. Counting out the Floriana council, there are still some eight other councils that have not yet decided, one of which – Xaghra council – does not even have a meeting scheduled yet.

TMID contacted the other councils for the names of the mayor and deputy mayor as a communication problem at the Local Council Department seems to be slowing down the official registration, with the officials finding out about the names of the new officials through the papers, sources said.

Vittoriosa: John Boxall, mayor; Manuel Attard, deputy.

Qormi: Jesmond Aquilina, mayor; Kenneth Busuttil, deputy.

Siggiewi: will meet today.

Attard: Norbert Pace, mayor; Remigio Bartolo, deputy.

Birzebbuga: Joseph Farrugia, mayor; Joseph Baldacchino, deputy.

Floriana: Have not agreed yet.

Gzira: Will meet on Thursday.

Gharghur: Mario Gauci, mayor; Mark Azzopardi, deputy.

Hamrun: Will meet tomorrow.

Kercem: Joseph Grima, mayor; Mario Azzopardi, deputy.

Luqa: John Schembri, mayor; Joseph Paul Piscopo, deputy.

Marsaxlokk: Edrik Micallef mayor; Remigio, Cassar, deputy.

Mosta: Were expected to meet late yesterday evening.

Munxar: Joseph Sultana, mayor; Mark Bajada, deputy.

Paola: Will meet today.

Qala: Paul Butigieg, mayor; Victor Grech, deputy.

Safi: Peter Paul Busuttil, mayor; Alexis Callus, deputy.

San Lawrenz: Noel Formosa, mayor; Anthony Formosa, deputy.

Santa Lucija: Fredrick Cutajar, mayor; Joseph Balzan, deputy.

Swieqi: Were expected to meet late yesterday evening.

Xaghra: Do not know when they will meet yet

Zebbug (Gozo): Will meet today.