Tourism Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli and Culture Minister José Herrera both expressed no interest in taking on the role of Labour Party deputy leader for party affairs, while agreeing that the candidate should not be a member of parliament.

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 Tourism Minister Farrugia Portelli and Culture Minister Jose Herrera if they are showing any interest in becoming the party's new deputy leader.

Farrugia Portelli's reply was: “I am interested in going back to my place of work to keep working on getting more tourists to our country as I am, and will remain, committed to doing.”

Asked if she agrees that the next deputy leader is not a member of parliament she said that she liked the idea so that there will be a person whose sole focus is that the interests of the party.

Herrera shared this sentiment saying that he is not interested in this role at this stage as he believes in the idea that the person filling up that vacant position does not have a seat in parliament so that he can put all his effort on the party’s administration.

“There is a tendency to split your efforts when you are juggling a parliamentary and administrative position. I believe that, nowadays, the party needs a deputy leader for party affairs without any parliamentary responsibilities,” he added.

In addition to both of these ministers, Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis, Energy Minister Michael Farrugia and Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg have also ruled themselves out of the race for the deputy leadership.