Fresh after his stunning success at the Ħaż-Żebbuġ local council elections, independent councillor Steve Zammit Lupi has started mayorship negotiations with PL and PN.

Zammit Lupi won 2,342 first-count votes this week, more than double the amount he won five years ago, making him the town’s most popular candidate by far.

His election, as well as that of his mother Lilibeth, also means that neither PL nor PN won a majority of seats in the council – PL has four seats, PN has three, and the independent Zammit Lupis have two.

The mayorship is therefore still up in the air and is set to be decided when the council starts its first meeting of the new legislature next month.

Zammit Lupi said he spoke to outgoing PL deputy leader Daniel Micallef and other PL officials yesterday and PN officials today to discuss the possibility of him becoming mayor.

He told Lovin Malta that both parties acknowledge his high vote share and are receptive to the idea of him becoming mayor, but that details such as who the vice-mayor will be and what manifesto to adopt still need to be ironed out. He confirmed that he has no intention of entering into a coalition with either party and that he wants to serve as an independent mayor.

“The feedback has been good, and they seem willing to collaborate and move forward,” he said.

If Zammit Lupi manages to secure the mayorship, he will follow in the footsteps of his uncle Godfrey Farrugia, who served as an independent Ħaż-Żebbuġ mayor for seven years in the 1990s.

Similar negotiations will also have to take place in Mellieħa and Birkirkara, where both PL and PN won an equal number of seats, with the final spot going to an independent councillor.