# Edwin Vassallo

Edwin Vassallo (born 24 June 1961) is a Maltese politician and businessman formerly from the Nationalist Party who served as a member of the Parliament of Malta from 1996 to 2022. He was elected to Parliament in the 1996 Maltese general election, and took office on 5 December 1996, and would serve until 20 February 2022 when Parliament dissolved before the 2022 elections. Vassallo was defeated in 2022 elections. Vassallo served as a Parliamentary Secretary (junior minister) in various capacities under the premierships of Eddie Fenech Adami and Lawrence Gonzi from 1998 until 2008. He also served as the mayor of Mosta from 2015 to 2016. Vassallo was also a member of the Parliamentary Petitions Committee in the Thirteenth Legislature from 2017 until 2022.
A shopkeeper, Vassallo chose to run in the 1996 elections for the Nationalist Party. Over the years, Vassallo was widely regarded as one of the most Catholic ultra-conservative members of Parliament. The Malta Today wrote in 2022 that his "shopkeeper mentality gave him a lack of sophistication that ironically brought him the allure of a man of the people, a marked distinction in a party of lawyers." Vassallo had been one of the most vocal opponents of the introduction of divorce in Malta, which was approved by voters in a 2011 referendum. He was also the only MP to oppose the introduction of same-sex marriage in Malta in 2017, and also voted against a domestic violence bill in 2018 which integrated the Istanbul Convention into Maltese law.

## Post-parliamentary political career

Edwin Vassallo claimed in a video in 2023 to have left the Nationalist Party citing his values and in turn founded a think-tank called the Solidarity Movement (Maltese: Moviment Solidarjetà), which he leads as Coordinator. Vassallo, through MS, has collaborated with the People's Party on a press-conference regarding road projects and works in his native Mosta which he claims were full of irresponsibly planned and resulted in injuries due to lack of safety procedures. He is currently a candidate for the 2024 European Parliament elections as an independent.

## Electoral history
### European Parliament elections

| Election | Party | Party | FTP Votes | FTP% | Result / Notes |
| 2024 | | Independent | 712 | 0.28 | Not elected, eliminated on Count 21, 902 votes |

### General elections

| Party | Election | District/s Contested | FTP Votes | FTP% | Result / Notes |
| Partit Nazzjonalista | 1996 | Unknown, no clear data | Unknown, no clear data | Unknown, no clear data | Elected |
| Partit Nazzjonalista | 1998 | Unknown, no clear data | Unknown, no clear data | Unknown, no clear data | Elected |
| Partit Nazzjonalista | 2003 | Unknown, no clear data | Unknown, no clear data | Unknown, no clear data | Elected |
| Partit Nazzjonalista | 2008 | District 7 | 755 | 3.2% | Not elected |
| Partit Nazzjonalista | 2008 | District 11 | 2047 | 9% | Not elected |
| Partit Nazzjonalista | 2008 casual elections | Co-opted | Co-opted | Co-opted | Co-opted |
| Partit Nazzjonalista | 2013 | District 7 | 438 | 1.8% | Not elected |
| Partit Nazzjonalista | 2013 | District 11 | 1263 | 5.1% | Initially not elected due to mistake by electoral commission, as later ruled by the Constitutional Court. |
| Partit Nazzjonalista | 2017 | District 7 | 256 | 1% | Not elected |
| Partit Nazzjonalista | 2017 | District 11 | 438 | 1.8% | Elected on the 22nd count |
| Partit Nazzjonalista | 2022 | District 7 | 490 | 2% | Not elected |
| Partit Nazzjonalista | 2022 | District 11 | 371 | 1.5% | Not elected |

### Local elections

| Party | Party | Election | Local Council Contested | FTP Votes | FTP % | Position | Result / Notes |
| | Partit Nazzjonalista | 2015 | Mosta | 2774 | 21% | 1st | Elected as Councillor, and subsequently as Mayor |

## Personal life

Edwin Vassallo is married to Caroline, with whom he has 2 sons. The family resides in Mosta.
Vassallo is a Catholic and his opposition to, and the nay vote to the Marriage Equality Act, were inspired from these beliefs.