Piccinino clarifies PN statute on how double-constituency seats will be vacated

Updated at 4:16pm with PN communication

The Nationalist Party had approved a series of amendments to its statute in July last year, including a clarification of the clause that determines which seats double-constituency candidates shall vacate, according to Michael Piccinino.

In a communication to election candidates on Tuesday, seen by MaltaToday, the PN Secretary-general said Clause 116 of the statute was amended so that the vacated seat will be on the district where the candidate obtained the lowest number of first count votes expressed as a percentage of the district quota.

However, the statute available on the PN's website seen earlier by this newspaper was still not adjourned to reflect the change in wording and it appears that neither was the PN aware of this yesterday when it issued a statement on the matter.

The old version of the statute approved in June 2020 and which is the one available on the party website contains an ambiguous clause on how elected candidates will vacate the double-constituency seats.

The 2020 statute stated that MPs elected on two districts would have to vacate the seat with “the lowest percentage of votes in the count in which they are elected.” It did not specify on what basis the percentage will be calculated – whether this will be as a percentage of the party’s share of the votes, the district quota or any other basis.

In a first statement issued on Monday the PN simply quoted the 2020 statute but in a correction to that press statement, the party later clarified that the calculation would be based on the candidate’s first count as a percentage of the district quota.

When contacted for comment, former secretary-general Francis Zammit Dimech, who was responsible for the new statute, admitted that he had to seek clarification on the wording of the clause.

Now that Piccinino has clarified that the decision will be based on the first count vote expressed as a percentage of the district quota, the seven candidates who were elected on two districts will have to give up the following seats:

Stephen Spiteri – 3rd District

Mark Anthony Sammut – 10th District

Bernard Grech – 5th District

Ryan Callus – 7th District

Adrian Delia – 7th District

Joe Giglio – 9th District

Robert Arrigo – 9th District