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Vince Farrugia, Marlene Mizzi submit nomination for casual elections
Nominations for three European Parliament seats close on Monday.
19 April 2013, 12:00am
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
2 min read
Three new candidates have added their names to the list of contestants for the casual elections that will take place to fill the seats of Maltese MEPs elected to the House of Represenatives.
GRTU director-general Vince Farrugia will contest for the seat vacated by Simon Busuttil, now deputy leader of the Nationalist Party, while Marlene Mizzi and Christian Zammit will run for the seats vacated by Labour MPs Louis Grech and Edward Scicluna.
The first nominations for the three vacant European Parliament seats were submitted by Labour candidates Claudette Abela Baldacchino and Steve Borg vying for the two seats vacated by deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech and finance minister Edward Scicluna.
Nationalist candidate Roberta Metsola Tedesco-Triccas was the first person to submit a nomination for the casual election to fill in Nationalist deputy leader Simon Busuttil's seat.
The nominations close on Monday.
The two Labour MEP seats vacated by Grech and Scicluna could be filled by Marlene Mizzi, Maria Camilleri, Claudette Abela Baldacchino and Sharon Ellul Bonnici, who all fared well in the 2009 election.
However, other candidates could throw their hat into the ring, with the newly-appointed foreign affairs ministry's director of communications Glenn Bedingfield, and Steve Borg, Kirill Micallef Stafrace and Christian Zammit all in the running.
Abela Baldacchino, former Qrendi deputy mayor, was also the vice-president of the Local Councils Association, which has been investigated by the EU's anti-fraud agency OLAF over the fraud of some €96,000 in travel expenses. The case, which embroiled all the LCA's members, is the subject of a court case. The issue first came to light last year when OLAF noticed that a large number of airline tickets for which reimbursement had been sought, all cost the same.
Another candidate who could embarrass Labour is Sharon Ellul Bonici, who is the founding secretary-general of the European Alliance for Freedom, a eurosceptic pan-European party established in late 2010, and led by UKIP (UK Independence Party) MEP Godfrey Bloom.
Ellul Bonici is listed as the official secretary-general of the EAF, with the party's headquarters listed in Birkirkara. The alliance's vice-presidents are Philip Claeys and the French nationalist hardliner Marine Le Pen.
PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil's seat can be taken up by either Roberta Metsola Tedesco-Triccas or Marthese Portelli, who were among the top performers within the PN ranks besides the elected duo of Busuttil and David Casa.
With Portelli elected MP in the 9 March general elections, Tedesco-Triccas could be the only woman vying for the PN seat together with other candidates such as the GRTU chief Vince Farrugia, marine biologist Alan Deidun, former PN official and owner of the St Philip's Hospital Frank Portelli, Edward Demicoli, lawyer Alex Perici Calascione and former nurses' union boss Rudolph Cini.
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No wonder everyone wants to get on the MEP gravy train ......Vince Farrugia of all people ...a man who lied under oath ....Marthese Portelli ......mela spiccat il pappa fil PN ?????? Cushy job , doing nothing but say yes or no in a parlament with over 700 reps ....responsibility ....ZERO ,AMAZING SALARY for f..k all delivery , free weekly flights , perks etc etc ...I want to be an MEP , I want to be an MEP..... !!!!!!
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Is this the same Vince Farrugia who was reported in the papers that tried to frame Sandro Chetcuti? Remember the SMSes? If the police prosecuted against him and then he is found guilty by our courts, how will this reflect on our country? I wonder what is holding the police to prosecute in this case.
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I think Europe will gain if Vince Farrugia will be elected to the European Parlament because they can be certain that if they appoint Vince Farrugia as the Pied Piper he can get rid of all the rats employed in precarious work. In fact he can smell a rat from miles away.
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As long as the grtu guy is accepted by the pn as their representative,they can say bye bye to my vote on anything. Is there anyone running the pn ship these days or has it just become a free for all? And have some people no shame at all?
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I hope that if that person makes it, he won't call the European works "RATS"
Marlene Mizzi is the best option for the EU and I honestly hope she makes it. A very intelligent well balanced. Good Luck Ms Marlene
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God forbid that Vince Farrugia is elected an MEP. With his credibility in Court in dire straits, I cannot understand how he can face our people again let alone represent the Maltese People in Brussels.
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Can someone explain why Claudette and Vince Farrugia are being allowed to contest these elections? Claudette is under investigation for fraud- by OLAF no less. I dread to think of the embarrassment to Malta if this woman - as one of our MRPs is found guilty? Wasn't' the Dalligate an embarrassment enough? And what about Vince Farrugia who has been found to make people lie under oath so that what might be an innocent person is sent to jail for attempted murder? Do the political parties have no say as to who they send to represent our country in such a prestigious post? Both Abela Bald. and Farrugia are most inappropriate for such a post.
Joseph MELI •
Marlene has got to get in this time as last time she was railroaded out of it by the testosterone team who ganged up on her.A brilliant mind ,a do-er and, more importantly, an achiever .Go get them girl and do us proud!
