Well, I’m afraid that’s not possible. A party can only withdraw the whip. It cannot divest an MP of his seat. It is the Constitution that allows for the removal of an MP due to mental illness under X procedure.

I agree with you in principle. What I disagree with is the mockery of individuals in the public arena based on the speculation of a mental illness.

All this achieves is amplification of hardships on the individual and reinforcement of the social stigma of mental illness.

Without making reference to any individual/s my recommendation would be that each political party has a “Fitness to practise” medical board whereby a panel of medical specialists can conduct the necessary clinical investigations and put forward recomendations to the party executive on the “fitness to practise” of the presented index case whilst safe guarding the patient confidentiality.

The party executive would then be empowered through the political party statute to suspend the political practice of the individual on a temporary or indefinite period depending on the individual circumstances.

This is how public trust and respect to the institutions is gained not by mud slinging and other puerile antics.

The point I am making here is that WHEN you are clinically depressed, you should give up your seat or be made to give it up. The Constitution in fact allows for this scenario.

As I said earlier I am in no way referring to this particular case as I know too little about it. However it is a sensitive topic which affects many people and the point I wished to raise with Spock is that every individual has a different story.

There are people who have been clinically depressed in the past and are no longer so. Not everyone is successful in managing it, but with the right medication and therapy it is not necessarily a life sentence or a preclusion to functioning well and contributing to society.

A few months ago a group of psychiatrists claimed at a conference at Yale University that Donald Trump has “a dangerous mental illness” and is not fit to be president of the United States. I am sure that came as no surprise to a huge number of lay people. The only surprise was that the professional experts were prepared to stick their heads above the parapet.

I think there are many politicians, living and dead, who are or were suffering from dangerous mental illnesses. I can think of two or three in Malta right now.

I believe it would be a great help if respected psychiatrists and psychologists were to make their views known far more than they do now.

You don’t ‘get over’ chronic depression. You just get over the most debilitating episodes.

Why was he allowed to contest again? Because, as has been made amply clear, the Nationalist Party is terrified of confronting anyone.