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News • August 8 2004


Albert Rizzo refuses ‘indecent’ proposal by PN

Matthew Vella
PN local councillor Albert Rizzo has rejected yet another offer for settlement in the obstinate mayoral deadlock at the Gzira local council, where the PN majority is split between two contenders for the mayorship.
Rizzo, who along with supporting councillor Malcolm Camilleri was facing possible suspension from the party after refusing to vote for Ian Micallef as mayor upon order of the PN Administrative Council, was asked to consider a new proposal by PN secretary-general Joe Saliba.
The proposed settlement was to have Ian Micallef serve as mayor for three months, whereupon he would relinquish the mayorship and vote for Rizzo to be elected Gzira mayor, once he would have been elected president of the Local Councils Association, the elections of which are to be held in the coming October.
Upon first consideration, Rizzo accepted the offer but later refused when he learnt that the proposal carried with a hidden ‘catch’. The offer in fact rested on the condition that Ian Micallef would have been elected president of the Local Councils Association, and should his bid fail in October, he would retain the mayorship for the rest of the term.
Rizzo refused forthright the offer, and was subsequently asked to consider serving as mayor for one and a half years, with Ian Micallef serving as mayor for the other one and a half years, a proposal which had already been refused by Rizzo at the outset.
Tomorrow, the Gzira local council will be convening and Rizzo is hoping a solution will finally be found: “This is an absurd proposal. I am ready to challenge Micallef to a locality-wide vote for mayor, and let the people of Gzira decide.”
The Gzira local council has been fraught with the long-standing feud between Albert Rizzo and Ian Micallef.
Rizzo first contested the Gzira local council as an independent candidate in 1994 until he decided to contest the 2003 general elections on the PN ticket, on invitation by then Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami. He was Gzira’s first mayor.
A directive issued by the PN administrative council ordered the majority PN councillors to vote for Ian Micallef as mayor of Gzira, threatening with suspension on the very evening those who would not abide by the directive. The eight-week long deadlock has meant that the eldest member on the council, Labour councillor Anthony Abela, had to be elected mayor for three months until another vote is taken – a repeat performance of the 2001 scenario when Labour councillor Twanny Buhagiar had to be elected Gzira mayor as the eldest councillor.
PN councillors with the highest number of votes are not necessarily elected as mayors automatically, unlike Labour councillors. In the 2004 local council election, Rizzo garnered 878 votes on the PN ticket, the highest number, and for the first time also surpassing Ian Micallef, who previously enjoyed the highest number of PN votes.





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