PN candidate Janice Chetcuti has announced that she has decided not to contest next week’s casual election because she will be elected regardless through the gender corrective mechanism.

Because she ranked first out of the party’s unelected women, Chetcuti said that she was sure of election through the gender corrective mechanism.

It is based on this that she had decided not to contest the casual election, because this way the PN could maximise its vote count on the third district and would be represented with three MPs.

The PN only elected one MP from this district: the popular family doctor Stephen Spiteri.  Spiteri however vacated his seat as he was also elected on the second district, paving the way for a casual election.

Chetcuti was among those with the best chance of being elected in his stead, having been the second most popular candidate in terms of first count votes.

Her exclusion from the contest leaves Marsascala minority leader John Baptist Camilleri and former PN minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici – who both missed out on election – with a good chance of being elected.

Camilleri obtained 1,162 first count votes in the election compared to the 881 obtained by Mifsud Bonnici. However, all candidates start at zero in a casual election, with the person replacing Spiteri being he or she who inherits the most votes from the family doctor.

Both Camilleri and Mifsud Bonnici have put forward their nomination for the casual election.  They are joined by candidates Mary Muscat and Leone Sciberras.