Jeffrey Pullicino Orland has thrown his hat into the ring for what will certainly be a hotly contested three-way fight in the casual election for the seat vacated by former Finance Minister Edward Scicluna.

Pullicino Orlando submitted his nomination on Saturday, a day after Gavin Gulia submitted his.

Currently the Malta Council for Science and Technology chairman, Pullicino Orlando served as an MP before, but under the Nationalist Party ticket.  He made a much-publicized switch to the PL, and contested under their ticket in 2017, but was not elected.

The resignation of Edward Scicluna however has opened a seat in the seventh district, giving him the chance to make it to Parliament’s green seats.

It will however be a hotly contested casual election: Pullicino Orlando will be up against former PL MP Gavin Gulia and against former Rabat mayor Charles Azzopardi, who was barred from re-contesting for his Rabat local council seat in the 2019 elections by the PL, and who is now a PN member.

Gulia obtained the most first-count votes out of the trio in 2017, but had fallen behind Azzopardi by the time all the votes had been transferred according to numerical preference by some 600 votes –an indication of the donkey voting phenomenon in Malta.

Pullicino Orlando polled the least first count votes – although not by much – out of the three in 2017, and his position lower on the ballot sheet than his two competitors may disadvantage him even further.

The casual election takes place on Tuesday.