Claudette Abela Baldacchino

While her nomination was announced in a Facebook post by her husband Kevin who said that she had been asked by Prime Minister Robert Abela to contest the election and after much thought she accepted, her candidature has now been formally approved by the Labour Party.

Born on 17th February 1973 and hailing from Qrendi, Baldacchino is no stranger to the EU, having served as a Member of the European Parliament between 2013 to 2014.

Along with Roberta Metsola and Marlene Mizzi, Abela Baldacchino jointly became Malta’s first woman MEP back in 2013, when they co-opted seats from Simon Busuttil, Edward Scicluna, and Louis Grech following the national election.

“Claudette and I, together with Marlene Mizzi, have the honour of being elected as Malta’s first women MEPs, and it is great to see her get back into the political arena,” Metsola told Lovin Malta in an exclusive comment when asked to comment on Abela Baldacchino’s announcement.

The former MEP started serving in the Labour Party at the tender age of 13 and among her many roles was Qrendi’s deputy mayor and Vice President of the Local Councils Association. Abela Baldacchino also worked as a journalist with ONE for many years.

She was also entrusted by Joseph Muscat to lead ‘Nisa Laburisti’ as the group’s President.

Abela Baldacchino is a graduate of social administration and also holds a Master of Science in governance and management.

Jesmond Marshall

Born on 1st December 1965 in Mtarfa, Marshall started out his education in a school in Beningharia in Cyprus.

In 1984 he started his career as a Health Assistant and in 1996 he started working at Malta’s Shipyard and was charged with the supervision of the warehouses. However, in 2003 he was one of 900 workers who were laid off.

Since his youth, he has been highly involved within the Labour Party. Besides being involved in Santa Lucia and Sliema’s local committees, he also served as the Labour Party’s Steward.

Today, Marshall holds the position of Secretary of the Metal and Construction Section of the General Workers Union (GWU) where, according to the party, he “was instrumental in reaching an agreement for more than 500 families of workers to be compensated by an international court after they fell ill with cancer in connection with asbestos on the workplace.”

At a European level, Marshall is a member of the Executive of the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW). He is also a member of the Health and Safety Committee of the same federation.

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