The House of Representatives currently has a vacant seat as a result of Marie Louise Coleiro Preca being sworn in as Malta’s ninth President.
Today, a casual election will be held to fill that spot and there are four in the running to do it. These include former Labour deputy leader Charles Mangion, MTA chairman chairman, former GWU deputy secretary general and former One news Head Manuel Micallef. The fourth horse in the running is Simon Saliba, a relative unknown.
Gavin Gulia used to be a popular figure, yet after being appointed parliamentary secretary for tourism in the Alfred Sant administration, his star waned and he was not elected during the last poll.
He is still known to be a moderate and an appealing personality, but his chances seem somewhat slim. The same goes for Micallef. He too was a popular figure, but once he resigned from the GWU and lost the facial hair, he too seemed to lose something in popularity. Simon Saliba is a relative unknown, but could be using the election to boost his profile for next time around.
The heavyweight in this runoff is notary Charles Mangion. The Luqa notary, who had briefly served as acting party leader and opposition leader in 2008, was unseated from parliament last year by his nephew Silvio Schembri.
But Dr Mangion had obtained a respectable 1,930 first-count votes in the sixth electoral district, a number greater than the votes obtained by all other unsuccessful Labour district candidates put together.
First-count votes are not actually taken into consideration in casual elections – only the votes allocated to the MPs vacating their seat are – but they do provide an indication of the possible outcome of the casual election.
But there is, perhaps, an even stronger indicator – the first-count votes for Ms Coleiro Preca that had already been inherited by other candidates in the general election. She had obtained 5,707 votes, far above the district quota of 3,916, which means that a third of the votes she received have already been transferred to others.
Among the four Labour candidates who may contest the casual election, Dr Mangion once more leads the pack, having inherited 352 of Ms Coleiro Preca’s first-count votes in the second count. Dr Gulia inherited 45 votes, Mr Micallef inherited 30 and Mr Saliba 13.
Dr Mangion, aside from his DNA clanger in the 2008 election, is largely deemed to be a moderate and a respectable figure. His probable election to parliament could also see him, perhaps, play a role in Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s cabinet. Time will tell, but it does seem very likely that he will be a ‘new’ face in parliament before it rises for Easter recess.