A number of incumbent politicians will have to sweat things out over the course of the following week, as they will have to wait for a casual election to see if they will be returning to Parliament or not.
There are other long-time MPs meanwhile who know that they will not actually be making it back to Parliament this year.
On the PL’s side, there are a number of incumbent MPs who have not made the cut thus far but who may make it through casual elections.
Most notable are former Minister Evarist Bartolo, who was elected from two districts, former cabinet member Rosianne Cutajar, and PL Whip Glenn Bedingfield.
Cutajar was pipped to the line by Ian Borg, so it is likely that she will make it back to Parliament. Bedingfield will likely contest for a casual election on the second district if it opens up, although it is not clear how he performed just yet. Party veteran Joe Mizzi is in the same boat as Bedingfield as well, and on the same district.
Oliver Scicluna is another sitting MP who was not elected and would have to rely on a casual election if he is to return to Parliament’s plush green seats.
One of the biggest surprises meanwhile is that long-time MP and Cabinet member Jose Herrera will certainly not be elected to Parliament. He contested on the 1st district but was beaten by Aaron Farrugia, Deo Debattista, and Keith Azzopardi Tanti – none of whom were elected on a second district.
On the PN’s side meanwhile, most notable is the absence of Jason Azzopardi, who lost his fourth district seat to Mark Anthony Sammut. Karol Aquilina is also absent, as is Toni Bezzina and Karl Gouder.
The PN’s process for determining who will make way for a casual election is enshrined in its statute: the district dropped by a candidate is the one where they win less first count votes.
Official results are yet to be released, but that could pose problems for Jason Azzopardi in particular: Mark Anthony Sammut, while also elected on the 10th district, is expected to have polled far better on his home fourth district.
That would leave Azzopardi competing for a seat in a casual election on his other district – the 9th district. He will be up against a strong field of candidates however, so him being elected would be far from a foregone conclusion.
Meanwhile, Claudette Buttigieg is the surprise candidate who might not be re-elected to Parliament. She missed out on both the 12th and 13th districts, and in any case all of the PN’s candidates elected in these districts will not be giving up any of their seats.
In all, 19 outgoing MPs who contested, including two ministers, were not elected, and will have to rely on casual elections to make it to Parliament.
The list of outgoing MPs who, till now, are not elected are:
PL: Anthony Agius Decelis, Evarist Bartolo, Glenn Bedingfield, Rosianne Cutajar, Jose Herrera, Jean Claude Micallef, Joe Mizzi and Oliver Scicluna
PN: Karol Aquilina, Jason Azzopardi, Toni Bezzina, Claudette Buttigieg, Kevin Cutajar, Maria Deguara, Joe Ellis, Karl Gouder, Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici and Edwin Vassallo.