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Suspended MP Is Still PN General Council Member After Backing Delia In Confidence Vote

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Hermann Schiavone is still a PN General Council Member despite his suspension from the party’s parliamentary group, voting for Leader Adrian Delia in the recent confidence vote.

“I voted because I only suspended myself from the parliamentary group, I never suspended myself from the party and so I was entitled to vote,” Schiavone told The Times of Malta.

“No one objected to me voting,” he continued.

Schiavone, who was elected for the first time in 2017 after being blocked from contesting in 2003 and 2013, suspended himself after it was revealed that he and fellow MP Kristy Debono met up with Tumas Group CEO Yorgen Fenech, the man behind the secret Dubai company 17 Black.

The PN did set up a disciplinary board to look further in the case. However, a final decision on the issue is yet to take place.

It seems like the move to allow him to take part in the ballot has angered many of the party’s internal critics, who believe that his suspension and potential disciplinary action meant that he should not have been allowed to vote.

Addressing these concerns when speaking to TOM, Schiavone claimed that “all those who have served as MPs, unless suspended from the party, are automatically entitled to vote. The same applies to all former members of the administration.”

This was echoed by PN’s Electoral Commissioner Francis Zammit Dimech who said that the party statute did not preclude Schiavone from voting in the confidence vote.

“According to the PN statute, all former MPs have a right to vote,” Zammit Dimech said, adding that this did not include former MPs like Jeffrey Pullicino, who had defected to the Labour Party.

However, it should be noted that Schiavone is not a former MP, but rather a sitting ‘independent’ MP in the house.

Sources speaking to Lovin Malta also claimed that Schiavone’s position within the general council was only given to him due to his position as an MP.

“The moment he suspended himself from the Parliamentary group, he should have lost his vote in the General council,” sources said.

READ NEXT: Labour President Warns Adrian Delia: ‘A Third Of Your Party Doesn’t Support You’

Julian is the former editor of Lovin Malta and has a particular interest in politics, the environment, social issues, and human interest stories.

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