A Ħamrun local council seat vacated by the resignation of a Labour Party councillor remained vacant after an independent candidate failed to reach the vote quota necessary to be elected.

Following the resignation of long-time Ħamrun councillor Carmen Borg last week, a casual election was held on Monday morning with one nomination. However, the sole applicant, Noel Apap, failed to reach the vote quota and was therefore not elected to fill Borg’s vacant seat, the Electoral Commission stated.

On Tuesday, 16 December, Ħamrun councillor Carmen Borg resigned from her position within the Ħamrun Local Council after 21 years of service for the locality.

Just prior to last year’s election, in March 2024, Borg posted on social media that she was going to step away from politics to focus on other priorities “after 20 years of prompt service.” She had made this declaration shortly after being presented the MARA award last year by Lydia Abela, before she was convinced to go out for election once again by residents.

Apap was the only person to submit his candidature in the three days that the Electoral Commission allowed people to send in their nominations into the Ħamrun Local Council.  The PL had no candidates who could stand for the casual election: all six of the candidates they fielded in 2024 were elected to the council.

Noel Apap had contested last year’s local council elections as an independent candidate, though was not elected after achieving 90 votes following the first count, and 101 votes after the fifth and final count before he got knocked out.

The quota to be elected was of 500 votes.

Apap had also contested the 2022 general election, also as an independent candidate, on the first district, in which he accumulated 29 total votes. He had centred his election campaign around the issues of irregular immigration and construction.

Apap is a self-described Mintoffian who believes that Malta should leave the European Union.

Borg’s seat, for the time being, remains vacant – leaving Ħamrun with eight active councillors, including its mayor and deputy mayor. In June 2024, Ħamrun residents elected six Labour candidates and three PN candidates.

Borg’s vacant seat however does not affect PL’s majority over the local council, as the party still has five active seats to the PN minority’s three.

The PL will now be able to co-opt a councillor to take on Borg’s vacant seat.