Ray Abela was elected to parliament on Friday after securing a seat in a casual election, marking his return to the House of Representatives for a second time.

Abela will fill the Third District seat vacated by Carmelo Abela, who recently resigned from parliament following his appointment as Speaker of the House.

The election marks Abela's second stint in parliament, having first entered the House through a casual election in 2022.

Unlike his previous entry to parliament, Abela this time required two casual elections before securing a seat. Earlier this month, he narrowly missed out when Andy Ellul was elected to fill the vacancy left by Chris Fearne.

Friday's casual election lasted less than 10 seconds, with Abela comfortably elected on the first count after obtaining more than 2,000 votes. Martina Buhagiar, James Grech and Eric Plumpton also contested the seat.

The swift result was made possible through the use of electronic ballot counting. Ballots, which had already been scanned the day after the election, were counted using computer technology.

Abela said he intends to remain close to his constituents and continue serving them throughout the legislature.

Known as "tat-TCTC" due to his association with the computer training company, Abela also pledged to continue advocating for the government's adoption of emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence.

During the previous legislature, Abela chaired parliamentary committees focusing on technology while serving as a government backbencher.