News • February 29 2004

Sharon Ellul Bonici considers independent ticket
Michael Falzon worked against me – Ellul Bonici

Matthew Vella

Sharon Ellul Bonici has declared she is considering running on an independent ticket unless the Malta Labour Party fields both a female and a Gozitan candidate to run for the European Parliament. Ellul Bonici failed to garner the necessary 70 per cent of approval from the Labour general conference to run for the EP by just five votes, for the second time.
Speaking to MaltaToday, Ellul Bonici claimed that party deputy leader Michael Falzon conducted a negative campaign in her regard. She said Falzon ‘employed’ delegate Ray Mizzi to urge delegates not to vote for her, and deliberately pitched Super One TV journalist Claudette Baldacchino to run for the MEP candidature as an alternative to her.
“I am surprised with the number of votes I managed to get despite the negative campaign against me,” Ellul Bonici, a former campaigner against EU membership, said. “It is a an even greater pity to see that no Gozitan or female candidate will be contesting the European Parliament elections in June. Everyone talks about the party having to be inclusive, but there is nothing of the sort, especially when considering the Party of European Socialists urged the MLP to have quotas to ensure more female participation.”
Both Ellul Bonici and Gozitan Anton Attard, who did not make the 70 per cent threshold for 12 votes, argued against the methodology of the electoral system:
“The 70 per cent threshold was created to exclude. It is easy to convince thirty per cent not to vote for someone,” Ellul Bonici told MaltaToday.
Gozitan Anton F Attard expressed strong misgivings after having personally petitioned for an extra four candidates to be added to frontrunners John Attard Montalto, Louis Grech, Glenn Bedingfield and Joseph Muscat:
“It is a bad system. Those elected made it by one or two votes. I failed to be elected by just 12 votes. After having pushed through for another election, the petition ended up working for other candidates. You cannot compete with someone like Joe Debono Grech,” Attard said after declaring he would not be contesting as an independent MEP.
“I think the Gozitan vote will suffer at this stage, and the candidates will have to see how they will be canvassing over here. I knew I had little chance to get elected as an MEP, but at least I would have mobilised the Gozitan electorate. I’m in no position to work for the party at this stage. Labour could even end up facing an alliance of independents.”
Attard said he would not be contesting on an independent ticket, although Sharon Ellul Bonici has not ruled out the possibility of a Gozitan candidate featuring in such an alliance. She said she had received an enormous response yesterday from Labour voters who said they would only vote for her should she decide to go ahead with an independent candidature.
“Many of those voters who were finding it hard to vote in these elections because of their opposition to EU integration saw me as an ideal candidate, and I am sure I would be able to cater for disappointed Labour voters.”
Yesterday however, whilst presenting the complete line-up for the European Parliament, Labour leader Alfred Sant yesterday said the reasoning behind the 70 per cent threshold was based on the fact that candidates were battling over a nationwide district rather than just a constituency.
Asked to comment on the absence of a female face in the EP line-up, Sant said quotas in the party were used at other lower levels in the party, although this had not been applied for the EP election. “It could be taken up,” he replied to a PBS journalist on the matter of quotas.
Friday’s MLP general conference delivered one of the most surprising turns as both female candidates failed to pass the 70 per cent threshold, with voters instead opting for 23-year old Owen Bonnici, a Marsascala local councillor, and Robert Micallef. Both are Labour party national election candidates. The two favourites in the election, party executive member Wenzu Mintoff and Labour MP Joe Debono Grech, were approved by the general conference.

Labour’s new candidates to the European Parliament
Bonnici, a Labour candidate, expressed renewed confidence for his electoral campaign after seeing the support he had from the general conference. Environmental issues, financial issues and youth affairs will be high on his list of priorities: “It is clear the general conference approved new faces which they saw fit to represent the MLP in this election. There is much to be confident about, but the important thing is to vote in a Labour majority and send a clear message about the way things are happening in the country right now.”
Robert Micallef, 35, formerly worked as an economist with the EU delegation to Malta. A Labour candidate in the last general election, Micallef rode the Front Maltin Inqumu bandwagon alongside erstwhile premier Dom Mintoff. He admitted surprise at having passed his first test at the hands of the MLP general conference: “Being not as well-known as the others, the approval came as a surprise. I am not really thinking of my chances at election save at working with the whole team and as much as possible convincing Labour votes to come out and vote in June.”
Former Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson Wenzu Mintoff, 43, said the EP elections will serve as an opinion poll on the state of affairs in the nation. As for his chances at election, he conceded that those candidates approved in November have already a head start. “The campaign however starts now. One assesses their chances as the campaign progresses. People now have a wider choice of candidates. It is important to have a strong MLP representation in the European Parliament, to counterbalance the government representation in the other EU institutions.”
The other elected candidate, Joe Debono Grech, said he was satisfied with the overwhelming vote of confidence delegates gave him. “I felt I had to help the party by contesting the EP election to attract the Labour veteran die hards,” he told MaltaToday.
When asked what his chances for election were, Debono Grech was dismissive. “I have been contesting elections since the sixties and I have never spoken of my chances. It is only when the ballot boxes are opened that I know how people voted.”