Lawyer Andy Ellul will be co-opted to Parliament, replacing Silvio Grixti, who resigned in December, the Labour Party has announced.

In a statement, the PL said Ellul’s nomination had been approved by the Labour Parliamentary Group and the party’s National Executive.

Grixti resigned after it emerged he had been interrogated by financial crimes police over alleged medical certificate fraud. No one contested the casual election on the third district, paving the way for a co-option.

Andy Ellul was being mentioned together with home affairs ministry spokesperson Rebecca Buttigieg and Mosta Mayor Romilda Zarb as being PM Robert Abela’s favourites to take Grixti’s seat.

The PL said Ellul has been involved in important reforms and laws over the past eight years, including those in the social and family sectors.

He also served as head of the Maltese delegation in the Council of Europe’s Lanzarote Committee.

Ellul will also be contesting the upcoming general election. He was born in 1975 and achieved his law degree in 2007. He specialises in administrative law. Ellul and his partner Claudia Cuschieri have a 7-year-old son named Gianni.

Reacting, the Nationalist Party said the decision to co-opt Ellul shows that Abela does not believe in the democratic process and wants to surround himself with peoeople who are more loyal to him. Once again, Abela has ignored what the people want, it said. This was the fifth time this has happened, the PN said, referring to the five Labour MPs who have been co-opted to Parliament.