Anton Tabone, Speaker of the House, last Friday launched a publication that details the parliamentary itinerary of politicians who were elected, from 1921 onwards, to the House of Representatives and legislative bodies that preceded its constitution in 1964.

Who’s Who in the House 1921-2006 is the work of brothers Joe and Richard Felice Pace and owes its origins to a unique collection of photographs of parliamentarians which had been built by their father Salvatore, who exhibited it at the Hobbies’ Society in November 1982. The book reproduces the only complete collection of such photos.

The publication by Midsea Books carries a foreword by John C. Lane, Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York at Buffalo and a leading authority on electoral processes. Lane has studied and analysed the Maltese electoral system thoroughly and has dedicated a website to it.Richard Felice Pace said that before his demise in April 1983, their father had expressed the wish to have the collection published in book form, together with notes on the individual members. “It was no easy task, and if it had to be done, it had to satisfy the meticulous standards their father was used to”, Mr Felice Pace said. Richard Felice Pace himself spent hours on hours researching details of every parliamentarian’s duties while they were members of the Legislative Assembly, the Council of Government or the House of Representatives.

Besides this information, the book carries the results of the First Count of all General Elections held from 1921 till 2004 and of all casual elections held till now. This is the first time that all casual election results are being published under one cover.

The final section of the book gives the results of elections for the European Parliament held in Malta in June 2004. The Maltese MEPs duties in the European Parliament are included.

Joe Felice Pace said that during research several odd facts had come to the fore, such as the case of a member of the Constitutional Party who emigrated to Australia in 1932 and sent his resignation from the Legislative Assembly by post from abroad. He quoted the case of a member of the Democratic Nationalist Party who is said to have resigned his seat when in actual fact he had never sent in his resignation because his appointment in 1924 as Magistrate, meant the automatic termination of his membership of the Legislative Assembly.

Mr Tabone said that, following the History of Parliament published by his office, this publication could be said to deal with the history of those who constituted Parliament. These were the politicians who served the country at great personal sacrifice and it was fitting that their services be remembered, as is being done in this book.