Oliver Scicluna has announced his departure from the political scene after he was not elected in Thursday’s casual election process.
Scicluna, who was co-opted to Parliament by Robert Abela in January 2021, was not elected on either of the districts he stood for, and also failed to make it back to Parliament during the casual election process.
He was pipped to a seat on the 2nd district by Glenn Bedingfield and on the 4th district by Katya De Giovanni.
“My adventure in politics ends here,” he said in a short Facebook post soon after the casual election results were known on Thursday morning. “I look forward for what is to come,” he added before congratulating those who had been elected.
Before being elected, he served as the first Commissioner for the Rights of Persons with Disability, having been appointed to the role in June 2016. He held the post until his co-option to Parliament.
This year, Scicluna made headlines after he took to Facebook to express his anger and offence at people offering him their vote in exchange for favours, saying that this is a practice and mentality which needs to stop.
“So many individuals come up to me and tell me that if I help they will ‘think of me’”, Scicluna said on his Facebook page.
He said that this is a phrase and sentiment which makes him feel uneasy, not necessarily because he would not want to help, but because he believes that people should only get what they think is theirs by right if they actually have a right for it.
At the same time, he said, the phrase itself has the undertones of a threat not to vote for him.
“This is a sentiment which hurts me. I am writing this publicly because I feel offended when someone comes up to me for help with the idea that they will use their vote to gain some sort of favour in return. They forgot that I came into politics to work for a truly just society,” Scicluna said.
“I want the people who vote for me to do so from their hearts and because they believe that I can do something good, not to trade their vote for a favour,” he added.