Two former parliamentary secretaries, Edwin Vassallo and Tony Abela, can thank Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando for losing their posts as junior ministers.
Edwin Vassallo, elected to parliament thanks to the constitutional amendment which gave the Nationalist party a one-seat majority, was the main casualty of the Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando phenomenon, who despite being embroiled in a scandal over the development of a disco on his property in Mistra, managed to get elected from two electoral districts.
Tony Abela did not even manage to make it to parliament even if his demise can also be attributed to other successful PN candidates like Joe Cassar and Philip Mifsud who pipped the unpopular junior minister responsible for the army.
Edwin Vassallo still increased his first-count votes on the eleventh district from 765 in 2003 to 2,047 in 2008, mainly because of Eddie Fenech Adami’s absence from the 2008 race. Five years ago he inherited a substantial chunk of Fenech Adami’s vote. After Eddie Fenech Adami’s surplus was distributed, Vassallo increased his vote tally to 2,234 in the second count.
Although the eleventh district was altered substantially since 2003, with Attard and Balzan replacing Rabat and Mtarfa, Mosta – which is Vassallo’s electoral stronghold – remained part of the district.
Pullicino Orlando was contesting this district for the first time, and still managed to gain 2,310 first-count votes. Pullicino Orlando had already contested Attard in 2003 when this locality formed part of the seventh district.
Notary Tony Abela also lost his seat on the eleventh district. But this time round Abela preferred to contest the revamped seventh district which this time included his Rabat stronghold. Previously, Rabat was part of the eleventh district.
Back in 2003 Abela gained 1,037 first-count votes on the eleventh district – a substantial feat considering that Eddie Fenech Adami was also standing there. When Fenech Adami’s surplus was distributed Abela’s votes increased to 1,788 in the second count.
This time Abela gained 1,548 first count votes from the new seventh district. In subsequent counts Abela failed to inherit any substantial number of votes. Abela only reached his 2003 second vote tally after the eleventh count.
Abela was also surpassed by Philip Mifsud who failed to get elected to parliament by a whisker after reaching a final count tally of 3,141 votes and by new health junior minister Joseph Cassar.
Therefore even if Pullicino Orlando was to vacate his seat on this district it will be extremely difficult for Abela to return to parliament as he faces stiff competition from Mifsud.
On the other hand, if Pullicino Orlando was to vacate his seat on the eleventh district, newcomer Shirley Farrugia also stands a good chance of making it to parliament.
If Jeffrey Pullicino were to resign, both Mifsud and Farrugia could make it to parliament for the first time.
Backbencher David Agius lost his seat from the seventh district, where his votes slumped from 2,095 to 780 but made it from the eleventh district, a district he contested for the first time. Agius’s success on the eleventh district is mainly due to his strength in his Attard stronghold, which was switched from the seventh to the eleventh district.
In all previous elections since 1996 Pullicino Orlando had only contested on the seventh district competing directly with strongman Louis Galea. Yet this time round he did not contest directly with Galea whose Siggiewi stronghold was removed from the seventh district and added to the sixth district.
Surely Pullicino Orlando was far less optimistic of surviving the obliteration of the seventh district. Speaking to MaltaToday in 2005 when the new districts were announced Pullicino Orlando described the electoral commission’s decision to divide the original seventh district in three other districts as “unfair”. Although still optimistic, Pullicino Orlando acknowledged that the partition of Attard, Zebbug and Siggiewi in three different districts “created huge difficulties” for him.
Despite his election from two districts Pullicino Orlando now faces huge difficulties as pressure is mounting on him to vacate his seat in parliament.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt