Attorney General called into PN constitutional claim

The Attorney General has been called into a constitutional court writ filed by the Nationalist Party against the Electoral Commission, after the court said the Attorney General had to be present to defend the interest of the State.

The PN has objected to the AG's presence, as requested by the Electoral Commission, claiming this would involve an official who is part of the government executive.

The PN is contesting the results on the eighth and thirteenth electoral districts, which gave Lkabour two seats with a slight margin of eight and nine votes respectively. Votes mistakenly passed to Michael Axiak on District 8 and unaccounted votes on District 13 resulted in PN candidates Claudette Buttigieg and Frederick Azzopardi losing out to Minister Edward Scicluna and MP Justyne Caruana. This alleged mistake led to the PL having 9 parliamentary seats rather than 7, over the PN.

Judge Jaqueline Padovani Grima decreed that the Attorney General should make his own personal judgement as to whether be present or not in the case, to protect the legitimate interest of the state.

Lawyers Therese Comodoni Cachia and Paul Borg Olivier while Prof Ian Refalo is appearing on behalf of the Electoral Commission.

The case continues on 17 June.