It looks like our Joey is going to sacrifice himself
I’d like to clear something up: that in Joseph Muscat’s hunt for a parliamentary seat which will allow him to take the oath as Leader of the Opposition, there are just six people who has what he wants: Owen Bonnici, Chris Agius, Joe Cuschieri, Joseph Sammut, Gavin Gulia and Joe Debono Grech. These are the only six Labour MPs who got their seats through a casual election.
Joseph Muscat, like his two immediate predecessors in the party leadership, Alfred Sant and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, will have to be co-opted into parliament, and that means he can’t take a seat vacated by somebody who was elected in the general election on March 8, but only a seat vacated by somebody who was elected in the casual election held afterwards. Of course, there are also a few Nationalist MPs who got their seats through the casual election, but I imagine they won’t be too keen to oblige Muscat. So the choice is between Bonnici, Sammut, Gulia and Debono Grech.
I’m not a gambling girl, but my bets are on Debono Grech. He’s in his 70s, which means he won’t be contesting another general election. So he might as well be a hero and go out on a wave of glory now (and that would explain the tears and loving scenes on the Labour stage last June). Oh, and when Muscat resigns his seat in the European Parliament and a casual election takes place to find out who will replace him, from among those who stood for election as an MEP in 2004, it might very well be our Joey. But it might very well not be, either, unless Muscat somehow succeeds in dissuading the other candidates from signalling their continued interest to the Electoral Commission.
You see, the way it works is this (thanks, Fausto): Joseph Muscat resigns his seat, the Electoral Commission publishes a writ for a casual election, and those candidates who stood in 2004 then confirm their interest in pursuing the matter. They can also say they are no longer interested. And quite frankly, God help the ones who insist on pursuing the matter because they will be regarded as enemies of the party and expelled to its equivalent of a Siberian work-camp. The votes are re-visited, and the election of a new MEP takes place by the standard single-transferable vote procedure. What are the odds that it’s going to be our Joey? Pretty high, I would think.
Meanwhile, I think it’s absolutely fascinating that Joseph Muscat is going to be the third Labour Party leader in a row who’s going to have to be co-opted into parliament.
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Daphne, you would have been fascinated just the same if George Abela was elected MLP leader, or wouldn’t you?
(Daphne – Yes, of course I would. I’m magnetised by the way the Labour Party conducts its affairs.)
Please read Joseph’s interview on his 100 day anniversary – it would make your day – the usual sitting on the fence and making war like noises against the EU and its rules – that is as far as our Europhile Joseph goes!!
(Daphne – Yes, I just read that excerpt: telling the suckers what they want to hear. Muscat would have made a first-rate rich man’s mistress. He’s got it down to a fine art. And I just love the bit where he says he doesn’t care what the EU rules say when it comes to immigration.)
Actually, there is a way for Muscat to take up the seat of a Labour MP elected on March 8. First, the Labour MP resigns. The Electoral Commission then publishes a writ for a casual election, for which none of the candidates re-submits an application. This would make the seat available for cooption.
That would take him more time that the planned end of this month. Maybe, he’ll be in time to insist that a Labour MP be made President when Fenech-Adami vacates Sant Anton in April …
(Daphne – The thing is that he’s committed himself to resigning his seat in the European Parliament by 25 September. We’ve taken it for granted that he will start the process of taking up a seat in the Maltese parliament immediately after that, but of course, as you suggest, we shouldn’t take any such thing for granted at all. He’s said only that he is going to resign as MEP, not that he’s going to become Leader of the Opposition. Joseph Muscat, like his immediate predecessor, is a master of the ‘half-statement’: “I’ll remove VAT” being that predecessor’s most infamous example.)
Fausto – I stand to be corrected, but I think that if that had to happen, any PN or AD or any other non-MLP candidate on the same district can apply for the bye election – and one of them has to be elected – even if he/she gets a single vote.
@ Chris II In a bye election the candidate must achieve 50% of the quota to be elected, so no PN or AD candidate has a chance. I believe that in KMB’s co option there was a seat vacated by an MP, but another Labour MP did submit his nomination, and subsequently another seat was vacated and KMB was co opted
I wonder why this incessant crusade against Joseph and the Labour party continues. If they’re so damn hopeless and incompetent then why bother?
Gerald, because some of us are morbidly fascinated by gross incompetence.
Gerald: Because even a “damn hopeless and incompetent” party can be elected to government. It’s not like we’ve never been there before.
Corinne, are you suggesting that the PN is competent? My God!
(Daphne – As an intelligent and sentient being, Corinne couldn’t help but notice that the Nationalist Party is competent. If it were not competent, we would still be wearing Red Devil jackets, Spider Jeans and Sanga shoes while drinking Tower Tea behind the Iron Curtain.)
oh come on Daphne – i thought Corinne would very well answer me back. If it was so competent (the PN) it would have won the last election by 30,000 votes…..
(Daphne – Corinne is travelling.)
Gerald: you forget the fact that just under half the population are as dim-witted as you are and would have voted for a monkey had it been waving an MLP flag and sporting and ill-fitting wig.
Gerald: I’m taking a break from travelling, so here’s my answer: My comment says exactly what it means. It sounds like you’re one of those ‘true believers’ who think that the perfect government can be created out of the mass action of voters staying home on election day because there’s no one they really want to vote for.
You might want to take note of the fact that I’m not glued to my desk for the next few days.