Veteran MP and Foreign Minister Evaris Bartolo said today that he will throw his hat in to be re-elected to Parliament.
Bartolo, who was elected for the first time in 1992 and will turn 70 next year, said on Facebook that he will leave it up to the people to decide whether they want to elect him to parliament.
Bartolo, who previously occupied the role of education minister between 2013 and 2019, has been elected in every election held since 1992. In 2017, he was elected from two districts, the 10th and the 12th.
Bartolo had privately expressed his intentions not to contest again, given also that the Labour Party is seeking to bring in new candidates to his team. But he has apparently now made up his mind to be is the list.
In his Facebook post, Bartolo thanked Prime Minister Robert Abela and other people in the Labour Party who encouraged him to contest the election. He also thanked his family for its support.
“I have to thank the thousands of voters who always elected me to parliament in the seven general elections that took place since 1992. But rather than looking back at the almost 30 years of parliamentary work, in Opposition and in Cabinet where I gave all to the best of my knowledge and ability, and which was certainly not enough, and I also had my shortcomings, I am more interested in looking ahead to the lots of work that has to be done for the good of the people and the creation of jobs and wealth in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Bartolo wrote.