With Miriam Dalli declaring that she is not interested in the race for the Labour Party leadership, the number of likely potential candidates to replace outgoing Joseph Muscat is whittled down to three; Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, Transport Minister Ian Borg, and MP Robert Abela.
None of them have so far made their intentions clear: Borg had said that this is not the time for one to say whether he is going to contest or not, but it is the time to work so that unity in the party and country can be retained. Contacted again by this newsroom on Thursday, a spokesperson for Borg said that the Minister will communicate his decision once he takes it.
Abela meanwhile had previously answered along the same lines, saying that he is identifying what is in the best interest of the PL at this moment in time, and what is the PL’s call for him. “I will take the decision in the interest of the party later.” Attempts to contact him on Thursday to see if he had made his decision proved to be unsuccessful.
Attempts to contact Fearne both last Tuesday and on Thursday also proved to be unsuccessful, but he remains touted as one of the front-runners for the post.
The election for the new Labour leader will be finalised on 12 January, but nominations open next Monday and close two days afterwards.
If there are more than two candidates for the post, the Labour Party’s delegates will vote to whittle the choice down to a shortlist of two candidates. The party’s members – the tesserati – will then vote for either of the two remaining candidates to elect the new leader.
If, meanwhile, there are only two candidates, the election will be in one phase involving the tesserati straight away. If the post is contested by only one candidate, then that candidate will still need to face a confidence vote from the party delegates to confirm his or her position as party leader.
In the past Konrad Mizzi was also touted to be interested in running, however given recent events and his resignation as minister, this now seems very unlikely.