Tony Abela, who contested the general election in March 2013 on the PN ticket, will be replacing Nationalist MP Joe Cassar after a casual election was held at the Naxxar counting hall yesterday. He garnered 1,978 votes.

The other candidates who submitted their nomination to fill the parliamentary seat vacated by Dr Cassar after he resigned recently include Rudolph Grima, Peter Micallef, Philip Mifsud and David Vassallo. In the end, it was Mr Mifsud who garnered the second most votes, a total 1,852.

Dr Cassar had resigned in the wake of revelations that he had received gifts by Joe Gaffarena. In comments to this newsroom as soon as it was announced that he won the race, Mr Abela thanked his family and party representatives.

Mr Abela highlighted that he will continue to be committed towards his party like he always was. He said he contested the elections for the first time in 1981 after a request was made by then PN leader Eddie Fenech Adami. He said he had garnered 961 votes at the time.

Mr Abela said that his father had contested the 1976 general elections.

Mr Abela started the race with 1,406 votes, Mr Mifsud with 642, Mr Vassallo with 965, and Mr Grima with 566. Mr Micallef was the first to be eliminated after garnering the least votes of the lot. The quota was to 2,038.

No candidate reached the quota in the first count so a second, third and fourth count had to take place. A recount of the third count was also requested which only lasted a few minutes.  

At one point, the race was between Mr Abela and Mr Vassallo but towards the end things changed and the race ended up between Mr Abela and Mr Mifsud. Mr Abela was hesitant to give comments to the media before the counting was over, despite the fact that from the onset, Mr Abela was likely to emerge as the winner.

“I am sceptical till the end, I had lost by some four votes one time,” Mr Abela contended. “I want to wait to the end,” Mr Abela told members of the media.

While the counting process was under way, Mr Vassallo, who was the candidate who was closest to Mr Abela in terms of votes by the end of the second count, told this newsroom that this race is "one between friends since we represent the same party".

He said the fact that his surname is listed towards the end of the ballot sheet is a bit of a drawback but the game can change.