Labour MEP vacant seat could go to eurosceptic Ellul Bonici

One of the seats vacated by Labour deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech and finance minister Edward Scicluna could be filled by the secretary-general of the eurosceptic European Alliance for Freedom (EAF), Sharon Ellul Bonici.

The EAF which currently has six MEPs, is a pan-European alliance of Members of the European Parliament, together with national and regional parliamentarians and parties, united under a political platform calling for national freedom and democracy in opposition to centralised, supranational control.

Ellul Bonnici contested the 2009 MEP election on the Labour Party ticket and despite her good showing she failed to win one of the six available seats.

She went on to become 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 members include the French nationalist hardliner and Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and former Lithuanian President and Prime Minister Rolandas Paksas, who was impeached in 2004 following charges of violating the constitution and his oath of office. He was also accused of having links with the Russian mafia.

The EAF is partially funded by the European Parliament.

Ellul Bonici submitted her nomination today, together with PN candidate and marine biologist Alan Deidun.

This takes the total to eight candidates for the casual elections that will take place to fill the seats of Maltese MEPs elected to the House of Represenatives.

Nominations close on Monday. The other candidates who submitted their nominations include Claudette Abela Baldacchino, the former Labour 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.

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 two Labour MEP seats vacated by Grech and Scicluna could be filled by Marlene Mizzi, Claudette Abela Baldacchino and Sharon Ellul Bonici, 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, Maria Camilleri and Kirill Micallef Stafrace all in the running.

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.