Casual election to be held to fill vacant Sliema seat

The electoral commission will hold a casual election in the next few days to fill in the seat  vacated by elected PN candidate Julian Galea on the Sliema local council.

On Wednesday the elected Sliema councillors took their oath of office, however only ten out of 11 councillors were sworn in as Julian Galea resigned before taking the oath.

The electoral commissioner, Saviour Gauci confirmed that the vacant seat will be filled after holding a casual election within the coming days.

The resignation had raised questions about how his vacant seat will be filled since the elected candidate resigned before taking the oath of office. This scenario had never occurred since 1996, and the electoral commission had said that it will act on the advice of the Attorney General.

Gauci explained that the commission will publish a formal notice on the government gazette and will then receive nominations for the vacant seat. The commission will then hold the counting process ten days after the publication of the formal notice.  The winner is determined by the redistribution of the votes credited to Julian Galea.

Antoinette Castaldi Paris is in pole position to take Galea's seat as she was only beaten to the last seat by Galea himself by a mere seven votes.

Galea resigned on 15 March, just four days after his election. In his statement Galea said that "considering the controversy created following the release of an illegal private recording which was taken way out of context, I have decided to step down with immediate effect in the interest of the newly elected Sliema Council, so as to ensure that this controversy will in no way tamper the work and challenges that this council faces."

The resignation of Galea coincided with a MaltaToday probe over illegalities in Galea's snack bar in Valletta. The investigation looked into the MEPA permit and Malta Tourism Authority licence held by the snack bar in St John's Street, Valletta which Galea runs. 

Galea's snack bar only obtained a MEPA permit in November and only holds an MTA second class licence, which does not permit establishments to serve hot food, however Galea's snack bar does serve a wide range of cooked dishes.

In the recordings aired on Labour's One TV, Valletta restaurant owner Julian Galea was heard saying that he suffered from a "phobia of Labourites,"  and claimed he paid them less than their Nationalist co-workers. He was immediately forced to issue a public apology by the PN on the eve of this month's election.

Subsequently, the Employment and Relations director initiated investigations on Galea's claims, which Galea had apologised for.

Julian Galea was the only PN survivor from the ill-fated Sliema council which was dissolved by government following a series of investigations that led to the prosecution of former mayor Nikki Dimech and two other councillors.