Both the Nationalist and Labour Parties have not yet announced which seats will be the subjects of casual elections following last Sunday’s vote counting result, with questions about Alex Borg's 13th District seat still swirling.

Any candidate who is elected on more than one district must give up one of their seats for a casual election to take place. While the Labour Party has a free hand to decide who gives up what district, the PN has a more straightforward process. The Nationalist Party’s statute reads that a candidate elected on more than one district “has to vacate the seat in that district where he received the lowest percentage of votes in that count that he was elected in.” This has generally been taken to be the lowest percentage of votes as per the district quota.

But this election has seen a particular situation emerge for the PN. Its leader, Alex Borg, who hails from Gozo, would need to give up his 13th District seat if it abides by that general procedure.

On the 12th District, Borg won 276% of the quota – 9,614 first count votes on a quota of 3,489.

On the 13th District, he won a slightly lower ratio, 261%, despite receiving more first count votes – 12,211 – due to Gozo’s higher quota of 4,684 votes.

Speculation has been mounting that the PN might be looking into ways to get around the issue.

Party sources said that the only way to do so would be through a statute change, which would require the Executive Committee first meeting, followed by a later vote in the General Council. But time here could be a factor given that casual elections are likely just weeks away, and there is not yet any indication that such a process has even started.

MaltaToday reports another possibility, quoting sources as saying that there is some confusion over the statute, and that a re-interpretation of it is being sought so that Borg could keep the 13th District seat.

Asked to confirm whether Mr Borg will be giving up the 13th District due to the party’s statute, a PN spokesperson said: “The Party will communicate which districts the PN MPs elected on two districts will give up (and therefore which districts will be opened up for a casual election) in due course.” Asked to state whether Dr Borg or the PN is considering changing the party statute to allow him to select which district to keep, the party spokesperson referred to the previous answer and said that “as soon as the Party has anything to communicate regarding which are the districts to be vacated, it will be communicated accordingly.”

A spokesperson for the Labour Party has also said that the PL has not yet decided on who will vacate what seat for the casual elections. It said that the national executive will convene and decide, and said there was no particular reason why it has not yet taken a decision.

In the 2022 elections, decisions on the casual election seats had been quicker, with decisions on who will vacate which seat having been made public on the Tuesday after the election by both parties.