Nationalist MP Mark Antony Sammut had a single piece of advice for his young children, should they tell him they wanted to run for local council elections at 16: don’t.

“If one of my children told me they were going to contest an election to become a councillor or mayor, I would give them one piece of advice: Focus on your studies and have fun with your friends, your youth happens once and then it’s gone,” he wrote.

“There will come a time when, if you’re ready to be of service to the public, you will be doing so in sacrifice of your privacy and freedom.”

“But that decision, if you are ready to take it, should be taken when you are not a minor and I am no longer responsible for your decisions and actions. And you will find me supporting you with all my strength.”

This comes as the government launched a legislative process to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to run for mayor.

At present, they can vote and contest in local council elections, but they cannot be mayor or deputy mayors before 18, even if they receive the highest number of first-count votes in their districts.

If the bill passes into law, you can have a 16-year-old as your mayor, something that the local councils association is all out for.

The PN has also come out in favour of the government’s amendment, meaning Sammut is straying from the party line with his comment.

Meanwhile, another PN MP, shadow minister for education Justin Schembri said that it was “the most senseless thing that could happen” in a now deleted comment.

What do you think of this decision?