Criminal lawyer Franco Debono has for months been hinting at a return to politics. But what exactly are his chances of getting elected if he were to run as an independent candidate in the upcoming MEP elections?

We asked the question in our political survey (the results of which can be found here), and was more than a little interesting. Respondents were asked to rate the likelihood of them voting for Debono on a scale from 1 (not likely at all) to 5 (very likely), if he were to be a candidate.

A total of 25.5% of respondents gave a positive score of between three to five (likely), while 67.2% scored one or two (unlikely) and 7.3% said they didn’t know.

The former Nationalist MP, who had brought down his own government in 2012 and has become increasingly critical of Labour, recently penned a blogpost thanking those who encouraged him to try his luck at one of Malta’s six seats in Strasbourg.

“People who believed in my proposals over the years, proposals that turned out to be beneficial for the country,” he said of his supporters. “People who wanted the politics of ideas, where the best minds can contribute, where the politicians are those who have something to give, not those who spend their time seeing how they can take. People who are sick and tired in a country where nothing changes apart from the faces, while everything stays the same. People who want to see a politics of reason, of debate and of valid arguments. I assure you, I am listening.”

When contacted by Lovin Malta, Franco Debono declined to comment about the survey results.

However, he jokingly announced on his Facebook page that the survey has convinced him to run as an MEP candidate next month.

Survey respondents were also asked whether they would vote for former PN leader Simon Busuttil, if he were to be a candidate.The former MEP fared better than Debono, but not by much: 33.7% of respondents gave a positive score when asked whether they’d vote for Busuttil as MEP while 69.1% gave a negative score and 6.2% sat on the fence.

33.7% of respondents said they’d vote for Simon Busuttil if he had to run as an MEP candidate

And should Debono decide to run as an independent candidate, he could very well do better than the likes of Alternattiva Demokratika, Partit Demokratiku and Moviment Patrijotti Maltin. Indeed, only 18.1%of respondents reacted positively when asked whether they are likely to vote for a third party, with 78.3% reacting negatively.

Do you think Franco Debono should run for MEP?

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]