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Previous Administrations
Ghajnsielem has had two
administrations partly responsible for the village in modern
times.
The first
was the Gozo Civic Council, a statutory local government
body having a distinct legal personality, established on 14
April 1961. Elections
for the first district committees took place on 4 June 1961
and Ghajnsielem, like all other villages, was to return six
candidates. Seven
candidates contested the election.
Domenic Scicluna, obtained the highest number of
votes, in descending order, by Joseph Cauchi, Anthony Grech,
Publius Scicluna, Amabile Xuereb, Carmel Agius, and Mariano
Xuereb. The
first six were elected and on 19 June they in turn elected
Joseph Cauchi to represent Ghajnsielem on the Gozo Civic
Council. Cauchi was elected by lot as in the second count he got the
same number of votes as Amabile Xuereb.
The Council was made up of fourteen members; they
represented the town and the thirteen villages of Gozo.
It held its first meeting on 4 July 1961.
The Council and the district Committees functioned
until 4 December 1973, when the then Prime Minister Dom
Mintoff suppressed the institution through an Act of
Parliament.
The second
administration was the Local Council.
Like the other councils of Malta and Gozo, it was
established through an Act of Parliament of 14 June 1993.
LOCAL COUNCIL
First Administration
(1994 -
1996)
The first
election for the Ghajnsielem Local Council took place on
Saturday, 19 March 1994.
With an estimated population of 1972, there were 1464
registered voters, amongst them 18 foreigners.
The district was to return five councilors.
Eleven candidates contested the first election: six
on behalf of the Nationalist Party, four independent, and
one on behalf of the Saint Joseph Philharmonic Society.
1164 persons cast their votes, but only 1103 were
valid, resulting in a quota of 184.
The Nationalist Party candidates elected were Francis
Cauchi, Charles Spiteri, Paul Austin Stellini and Joseph
Camilleri; while the independents elected one candidate,
Imperio Portelli. On
6 April 1994, the candidates elected Francis Cauchi as the
first mayor of Ghajnsielem.
Francis Cauchi
(Ghajnsielem Mayor since 1994)
Second Administration
(1996 -
1999)
A second
election was held on 9 March 1996.
Out of an estimated population of 2175, there were
1580 registered voters.
Nine candidates contested the election.
1264 persons voted, but only 1209 cast valid votes
and the quota was 201.
Four Nationalist candidates, that is Francis Cauchi,
Joseph Camilleri, Charles Spiteri and Stephen Mercieca; and
Imperio Portelli, an independent, were elected.
The other votes were obtained by a candidate of the
Ghajnsielem FC and another called Citizen Initiative.
The first sitting of the second Council was held on 1
April 1996 and the councilors confirmed Francis Cauchi as
mayor for the second term.
Charles Spiteri was soon afterwards elected from
among all Gozitan councilors to represent the local councils
on the Board of Directors of the Gozo Channel, the company
that runs the Gozo-Malta Ferry Service.
Third Administration
(1999 -
2002)
A third
election was held on 13 March 1999.
There were 1691 registered voters.
Eight candidates contested the election.
1290 persons voted, but only 1246 cast valid votes
and the quota was 208.
Four Nationalist Party candidates, that is Francis
Cauchi, Stephen Mercieca, Joseph Debono and Lorietta
Buttigieg; and Alfred Buttigieg, a Labour Party candidate,
were elected. The
other votes were obtained by an Independent candidate.
The first sitting of the third Council was held on 5
April 1999 and the councilors unanimously confirmed Francis
Cauchi as mayor for the third consecutive term.
In May 2000, Natasha Cassar replaced Lorietta
Buttigieg on the latter’s resignation.
Fourth Administration
(2002 -
2005)
From left to right Frank Xuereb
(Councillor),
Peter Caruana (Councillor), Joseph Debono (Councillor),
Mercieca Stephen (Vice Mayor),
Cauchi Francis (Mayor), Dolindo Cassar (Executive Secretary)
A fourth
election was held on 9 March 2002.
There were 1857 registered voters. Nine candidates
contested the election.
1444 persons voted, but only 1368 cast valid votes
and the quota was 229.
Four Nationalist Party candidates(72.00%), that is Francis
Cauchi, Stephen Mercieca, Joseph Debono and Francis Xuereb
and Peter Caruana, a Labour Party candidate (27.00%) were elected. The first sitting of the fourth Council was held on 1 April
2002 and the councilors unanimously confirmed Francis Cauchi
as mayor for the fourth consecutive term.
Fifth Administration
(2005 -
2008)
From left to right Debono Joe (Councillor),
Lateo Anthony (Councillor), Mercieca Stephen (Vice Mayor),
Buttigieg Larry
(Councillor), Cauchi Francis (Mayor), Anthony Zammit (Dep.
Executive Secretary)
In this election, Francis Cauchi
(23.48%) was automatically elected Mayor as he managed to
obtain the largest number of first count votes. According to
the amendments to the Local council Act which was recently
approved in parliament, mayor and deputy mayors are elected
by the residents when they cast their ballot. In fact, the
councillor with the highest number of votes of the party
that has the absolute majority of seats in the council is
automatically elected mayor.
The other four elected candidates are Tony Lateo (8.27%),
Stephen Mercieca (13.32%), Larry Buttigieg (16.29%) and
Joseph Debono (11.3%)
During this election, results in Ghajnsielem were making
quite a bit of news mostly because the PN suffered a heavy
loss of -14.23% (the biggest loss from all localities).
Independent candidate Joe Debono not only took the PN votes
here but also a seat. He is the only independent candidate
to be elected.
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