Youngest MEP spent less than €15,000 with ‘Facebook campaign’

Labour’s youngest MEP, Thomas Bajada, managed to get elected in his first ever political campaign having spent the least of all six elected Maltese MEPs.

At a spend of €14,860, the young Gozitan was elected Labour’s third MEP at 30, with a campaign whose advertising muscle was squarely invested in Facebook and Instagram ads.

Data from the Electoral Commission, so far available only for the six elected MEPs, shows Bajada spent almost €6,000 in ads, mainly from Meta. Another €4,900 was spent in hire costs for campaign rallies.

And small donations from coffee mornings gave Bajada a small €1,100 float.

Like most of the other MEP returns, it is arguable that MEPs self-financed their campaigns, cushioning them with small donations collected throughout their activities. Invoices or VAT receipts for all expenses were presented to the Electoral Commission.

All MEPs also kept their total spend below the €50,000 threshold: Labour MEP Daniel Attard, like Bajada a first-time MEP and candidate, was the second lowest spender at €25,7338. But he managed to clear €12,701 in donations throughout his campaign: namely, €1,905 at two receptions, €2,755 from two buffet dinners, a massive €6,792 from two coffee mornings, and €1,248 from two pasta nights.

The highest spending MEP was Labour incumbent Alex Agius Saliba, who spent €48,800 for his campaign – almost €30,000 was spent on hire costs financing his grand rallies, set up by TEC, and with considerable costs for lighting, staging, live-streaming, and large banner printing. An additional €8,200 was spent in press advertising and social media ads.

Agius Saliba also collected over €9,300 during fundraising events.

From the Nationalist side, newly-elected MEP Peter Agius spent just over €44,300 for his campaign, with major expenses of €10,000 in printing, €12,000 in press and social media ads, €4,400 in postage, and over €16,000 for campaign events.

Agius also secured €6,000 in donations throughout his campaign.

Incumbent David Casa spent over €44,700 but registered no donations. Casa spent over €25,800 in press and social media ads, with at least €15,000 of that spend in Facebook adverts.

European Parliament president Roberta Metsola spent just over €46,000 and collected €4,000 in donations during a campaign rally. Metsola spent over €9,100 in ads, €10,00 in hire costs, and then another €20,000 in campaign ‘miscellaneous’ expenses, which were classified as audiovisual costs and rally costs.