Franco Debono

Franco Debono (born 9 March 1974) is a Maltese criminal trial lawyer and former Nationalist member of Parliament.

In 1998, while still a university law student, he contested the general election on the Nationalist Party ticket and received 467 votes.

Debono first ran for office in 1998, contesting the fifth electoral district.

He failed to win a parliamentary seat, ending up with just 467 votes.

In 1999 he received a Doctorate of Laws from the University of Malta after successfully defending his thesis entitled "The constitutional implications of party organization and party finance."

Debono runs a law firm called Franco Debono and Associates which is based in Valletta.

His area of specialist practice is in criminal law.

In 1999 he graduated as a lawyer from the University of Malta and got his warrant to practice as a lawyer before the Maltese Superior and Inferior Courts on 9 March 2000.

He set up his private practice in Zurrieq a village in the fifth district, his electoral constituency.

From the very start he specialised in criminal law.

In 2003 he contested the general election with the Nationalist Party again and polled 1132 votes.

In 2003 Debono was once again on the ballot in the fifth district, this time gaining 1130 votes.

It was once again not enough to gain the seat.

From 2008 until 2013 Debono served one term as Member of Parliament for the Nationalist Party.

Debono was elected in parliament with the Nationalist Party from the fifth district in 2008 when he gained 2065 votes.

Newspaper Malta Today described Debono's election as a surprise win.

Even more so, because Debono's election meant longstanding member of parliament Louis Galea who was minister of education and Helen Damato who was parliamentary secretary for the elderly became unseated.

In Parliament, Debono chaired the committee on the "Re-codification and consolidation of laws," and was also a member of the committee on "Black dust precipitation" chaired by Leo Brincat.

In late 2009, problems between Debono and the Nationalist Party leadership arose.

According to Debono, who missed two votes in parliament, Malta was in desperate need of law reform.

At the time, he still considered himself a proud member of the Nationalist Party, even though he toyed with switching his allegiance to Labour.

In November 2011, Debono started a campaign to split the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs into two separate departments.

In early 2012, Gonzi gave in to Debono's demand and took advantage of a cabinet reshuffle to separate the justice and home affairs portfolios from one another.

Debono applauded the split, but nevertheless criticized the reshuffle as a whole, saying Gonzi had only promoted some of his secretaries (which Debono dubbed "the ruling clique" ) to ministerial posts.

In early January 2012, Debono was now so disgruntled with the current state of affairs within the PN, that he stated "I'll support anyone but Gonzi."

Later that month, Debono once again hinted he was going to vote in line with Labour in one of their no confidence-motions, but abstained in the end, ensuring the motion was defeated with the casting vote of the speaker.

Later on that year, he called Lawrence Gonzi "Malta's Hitler" on his blog, but removed the comments shortly afterwards.

In May 2012, Debono voted in favour of a motion of no confidence in Minister for Home and Parliamentary Affairs Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, which subsequently passed.

This deed forced Bonnici to resign.

Debono supported the motion, because he felt Bonnici failed in bringing about reforms.

Debono contributed in toppling the Gonzi-led administration in a budget vote on 10 December 2012.

The MP claimed he would vote against the government if Austin Gatt was not relinquished from his post.

When Gonzi subsequently refused to give in to the demand, Debono cast his vote against the budget.

Along with all the votes from Labour, the vote failed and new elections had to be called.

"I am proud to have distanced myself from Austin Gatt's GonziPN," Debono declared afterwards.

Debono is the former Commissioner of Laws of Malta, appointed by the Labour-led administration of Joseph Muscat on 24 March 2013.

Debono went to school at St Aloysius' College in Birkirkara.

After the fall of the government, but prior to the 2013 elections, Debono pledged to "remain a thorn in GonziPN's side" till the end of his own parliamentary career.

After the election date had already been set, Debono attacked the PN on claims it is corrupt and for polluting the environment.

Outgoing prime minister Gonzi replied that Debono had now become "irrelevant."