More candidates for European Parliament elections

Former nurses' union boss Rudolph Cini, and Labour candidates Glenn Bedingfield and Maria Camilleri have added their names to the list of candidates who will contest Wednesday's casual elections for the European Parliament.

Labour's eurosceptic candidate Sharon Ellul Bonnici is also contesting for one of the two seats vacated by Labour Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech and Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, despite having spent most of her career at the service of eurosceptic MEPs and more recently the European Alliance for Freedom (EAF).

Ellul Bonici had campaigned against Malta's EU membership bid with the No2EU group she formed, and later failed to secure a candidature on the Labour ticket for the European elections of 2004. In 2009 she polled just over 6,000 votes in the European elections, which she contested under Labour.

But her career inside the European Parliament has so far been at the service of Eurosceptic alliances, the latest being the EAF, whose six MEPs oppose Brussels's centralised, supranational control.

The European Alliance for Freedom was established in late 2010, and is 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 right-wing 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.

Ellul Bonici submitted her nomination yesterday.

Eleven candidates have now submitted their nomination so far for the casual elections to fill the seats of Maltese MEPs elected to the House of Representatives. Nominations close on Monday.

The other candidates who submitted their nominations include Claudette Abela Baldacchino, former deputy mayor of Qrendi for Labour. She was also 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 still 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 has thrown in his nomination for the seat vacated by PN deputy Simon Busuttil; the other PN candidates are marine biologist Alan Deidun and Roberta Metsola Tedesco-Triccas. Possible candidates include Marthese Portelli, who has however already been elected MP in the Maltese House of Representatives; Frank Portelli, Edward Demicoli, Alex Perici Calascione and Rudolph Cini.

On the Labour side, Marlene Mizzi, Steve Borg and Christian Zammit will run for the seats vacated by Labour MPs Louis Grech and Edward Scicluna.

The two Labour MEP seats could be filled by Marlene Mizzi, Claudette Abela Baldacchino and Sharon Ellul Bonici, who all fared well in the 2009 election.

Kirill Micallef Stafrace has not contested the casual elections.