Mosta mayor not among PL’s approved candidates for local councils elections

Present Mosta mayor Paul Chetcuti Caruana was not approved by the Labour Party to contest the local council elections to be held next March.

During a political activity held in Mosta this morning, the PL announced the seven candidates which have been approved by the party. Chetcuti Caruana's name was not on the list.

The approved list includes Brian Bezzina, Jean Paul Camilleri, Kirby Fenech, Alex Muscat, Mario Sammut, Rachel Tua and Charles Vella.

A spokesman for the PL has confirmed that Chetcuti Caruana "will not contest".

Last year, the mayor was involved in an outburst where he had ordered council employees to tear an article written by fellow Labour councillor Josette Agius Decelis on incomplete Mosta roads.

At least six council employees had ended up tearing up a page carrying the article by the Mosta deputy mayor and blackening out a paragraph on another page. The torn pages - out of some 7,000 copies - were burnt in a metal bin.

Shortly after the bizarre incident, Sunday newspaper Illum had revealed that approximately twelve Labour councillors and mayors had been contacted by the Labour Party to step down from contesting in upcoming 2012 local council elections.

Illum had contacted Chetcuti Caruana to determine whether he was one of the individuals called upon by PL leaders to not run as candidate.

But Chetcuti Caruana had refused to comment on his leader's decision to restrict certain councillors and mayors from running for elections saying, "I cannot comment on what others are saying."

Addressing a political activity in Mosta in the run up to the elections, PL leader Joseph Muscat admitted that it will not be easy for the PL to gain votes in Mosta: "For the past years the Mosta residents have been let down by their local council. Minimal work was done. It was only during the past few months that the council's work geared up.

"We shoulder responsibility for that disappointment - the result of internal disputes. But I promise the residents that we have learnt our lesson. We have taken the decisions we needed to take."

Muscat has long been working on his plan to "shake up local government to ensure it is on the side of families" and not focus on a bureaucratic approach hindering the proper operation of local councils.

Muscat said that the PL is going to be at a disadvantage during the local councils elections, even more now that Sliema was included among this year's group. "The Sliema local council is going to the polls twice: this year and next year. It's obvious that the only reason for holding the Sliema elections this year is to put GonziPN in advantage.

"It will be an uphill struggle and because of this everyone must do his best," Muscat urged.