The decision on who will replace Chris Cardona for the post of the Labour party's deputy leader rests in the hands of the party's executive committee, said Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg while praising the former deputy leader for his work within the party.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Robert Abela revealed that Chris Cardona has resigned as deputy leader of the PL after facing calls for his resignation from the party ever since his name cropped up in the compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech in the case of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The Malta Independent asked Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg if he has any interest in becoming the party's new deputy leader.
Borg started off by praising and thanking Cardona for the work that he has done within the party, saying that he was "a true Labourite".
"I remember him going up the ranks from councillor to the newsroom, he also used to shadow the local council when I was mayor as well as the Principal Minister of Muscat and deputy leader of the party. I thank him because he was a true Labourite," he said.
With regards to the newly opened deputy leader position, Borg explained that, firstly, one must consider what the executive of the party itself will be deciding.
PM Abela on Wednesday said that a general conference to elect a new deputy leader will be held in the second week of July.
When pressured to give a definitive answer, Borg said that the party is his second family so he will see what the needs of the party and the party's leader are.
However, he added that it is not the case of being interested or not, seeing that there are on-going discussions on whether this person should be solely focused on the party. "I am a minister with a lot of things on my hands so we'll have to see what the executive decides," he concluded.
Until now, Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis and Energy Minister Michael Farrugia have ruled themselves out of the race for the deputy leadership with the former saying that the new deputy leader should not be an MP. This should be so to eliminate district influence on the race for deputy leader, which according to him should be focused solely on the party, especially at a time when Labour is in power, he said in his post.