President’s secretary appointed Chief Electoral Commissioner

Joseph Church has been appointed Chief Electoral Commissioner, the government said in a statement.

His appointment does not enjoy the Opposition's approval as agreement between the government and opposition was not reached. MaltaToday is informed the PN opposed Church's nomination.

A PN spokesperson said the opposition proposed the name of two others who it felt were best suited for the role. "These two occupied high posts in the civil service and were deemed more competent for the job," the spokesman said, preferring not to say who the two were.

Church was appointed as President George Abela's personal secretary in 2010.

Born at Floriana on 27 July 1955, Church studied at the Archbishop's Seminary in Floriana and joined the Public Service in 1977.

He has occupied various positions in the Public Service which includes the post of Director in the Ministry for Health.

In 2008, he was appointed Director General in the same Ministry. For the last four years he was Secretary to the Presidency and was involved in various projects related to his post.

He studied Diplomacy at the University of Malta between 1996 and 1998 and studied Management and Human Resources at the University of Malta between 2002 and 2004.

In 1994, he attended a 12-week course in Human Resources at the University of Manchester.

During his career, he attended a number of international conferences and meetings on various matters. These were held in Brussels, Warsaw, Barcelona, Luxembourg, London, Madrid and Singapore.

Joseph Church is married to Isabelle and has two children, Roberta and AnnMarie.

"The Government thanks outgoing Chief Electoral Commissioner Mr Salv Gauci for his sterling service. Mr Gauci retired at the end of his term but will continue giving his services as consultant to the Electoral Commission," the government said.