Minister Anton Refalo’s daughter elected mayor as reports of fake residences ignored by the party

Veteran Labour Minister Anton Refalo trounced his archrival Minister Clint Camilleri in Xewkija in a local election that was seen as a battleground for Gozitan superiority between the two Labour ministers.

Simona Refalo, a 19-year-old law student and daughter of Minister Refalo, sailed through her first electoral test, gaining almost 64% of all those who voted Labour in the Gozitan village.

She has been declared mayor of Xewkija, possibly becoming the youngest mayor to be elected in this year’s elections, even though she has never lived in the locality.

Minister Clint Camilleri’s candidate in the same Xewkija elections, Paul Azzopardi, scored poorly, obtaining only 365 votes, despite a big push by the Gozo Ministry in Victoria.

Simona Refalo’s victory is not free from controversy.

The Shift revealed how, despite living with her family in a sprawling villa in Qala, Simona and her mother, Michelina, transferred their identity cards onto the residence of an 85-year-old Xewkija woman, Michelina’s aunty, falsely declaring that they live with her. This was so they could vote in Xewkija to help elect Simona.

The other two members of the Refalo family, Minister Anton Refalo and his son Andrea, also falsely declared their residence in Xewkija. The son had his ID card transferred to an uninhabited building owned by the minister’s driver.

The Shift also reported that some 100 canvassers of Minister Refalo who do not live in Xewkija also made a false residency declaration to vote in the locality, boosting Simona’s election.

Although these abuses were publicly known and even reported to the Labour Party by other Labour candidates, Prime Minister Robert Abela refused to intervene.

Despite Simona’s victory, Labour lost some 10% of the vote in Xewkija with the PN gaining a seat.

Simona Refalo is being pushed by her 68-year-old father to take his parliamentary seat, possibly contesting the next general elections, to challenge incumbent Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri.

In the MEP elections, despite Labour having three Gozitan ministers, most of the votes went to the PN for the first time since 2017.

Meanwhile, as the counting of the first third of local council elections is over, the trend observed in the MEP election results continued even at the local council level.

The PN made significant gains in almost all localities, regaining the majority in St Paul’s Bay and Fontana, Gozo. It increased its vote tally across the board while Labour lost its majority in several localities, including Mellieha and Zebbug.

The capital, Valletta, remained red despite the PN’s significant effort. It was the most disappointing result for the Opposition in the local council elections so far – Labour retained four seats in Valletta (out of seven) while the PN dipped to just 39% of the vote.

Labour’s mayor, Alfred Zammit, lost Valletta’s mayorship to new Labour councillor, Olaf McKay.