Maria Dolores Camilleri (born 1952) is a Maltese politician and educator who was a member of the

Parliament of Malta The Parliament of Malta () is the constitutional legislative body in Malta, located in Valletta. The parliament is unicameral, with a democratically elected House of Representatives and the president of Malta. By constitutional law, all gover ...

and a delegate to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

from 1996 to 1998. She is a member of the Labour Party. In 1997, she co-founded the Mariam Al-Batool school in

Paola Paola is a female given name, the Italian form of the name Paula. In Greek it is Polina. Notable people with the name include: People In arts and entertainment * Paola Del Medico (born 1950), Swiss singer *Paola e Chiara, pop music duo consist ...

for Muslim children, and was the headmistress of the school for 17 years.

Education and early career

Camilleri was born in

Rabat, Malta Rabat ( ) is a town in the Western Region of Malta, with a population of 11,497 as of March 2014. It adjoins the ancient capital city of Mdina, and a north-western area formed part of the Roman city of Melite until its medieval retrenchment. ...

on 7 August 1952. She studied at the

University of Malta The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association, ...

, receiving an

honours degree Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, ...

in arts in 1974 and a teacher's license in 1975. She taught at Maria Regina Girls Junior Lyceum in

Blata l-Bajda Blata may refer to: * Blata, Croatia, a village in Croatia * Blata (river), a river in the Czech Republic *Blata, a village and part of Nýrsko in the Czech Republic *Blata, a village and part of Zámostí-Blata in the Czech Republic {{geodi ...

and was the head of the St Venera primary school in

Santa Venera Santa Venera is a town in the Southern Region, Malta, Southern Region of Malta, with a population of 8,834 (2021). It is located between the towns of Birkirkara and Ħamrun, and also borders Qormi and Msida. History The Old Church of Santa Ven ...

Political career and Mariam Al-Batool

Camilleri first ran for office in 1996 as a Labour Party for the

. She received fewer votes than

Evarist Bartolo Evarist Bartolo (born 14 October 1952) is a Maltese politician affiliated with the Labour Party and formerly the Minister for European & Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Education & Employment. Family Bartolo was born on 14 October 1952 ...

, who was elected in both the 10th and 12th districts. Bartolo vacated his 12th district seat and Camilleri won the resulting casual election on 14 November 1996. She was sworn in the following month on 5 December. During Camilleri's time in office, she was a member of the Public Accounts Committee and assistant whip for the Labour Party. She was also a member of the Maltese delegation in the

, and was the first female Maltese member of the assembly. She ran for re-election in 1998, but Bartolo, who again won the election in both districts, opted to vacate his seat in the 10th district rather than the 12th, so there was no vacancy to fill. Camilleri's term in Parliament ended on 3 August 1998, at the dissolution of the legislative session. She co-founded the Mariam Al-Batool school in

for Maltese Muslim children in 1997 and was its first

head of school A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. Role While s ...

. She remained in the position for 17 years; during that time, Mariam Al-Batool was the only Muslim school in the world with a Christian headmistress. In July 2008, Camilleri announced her candidacy as a Labour Party candidate in the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Member of the European Parliament, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent s ...

, with the support of newly elected Labour Party leader

Joseph Muscat Joseph Muscat (born 22 January 1974) is a Maltese politician who served as the 13th prime minister of Malta from 2013 to 2020 and leader of the Labour Party from 2008 to 2020. Muscat was first elected Prime Minister in March 2013 with 54.83 ...

. In her announcement, she cited her experience as the head of Mariam Al-Batool and her support for a

Mediterranean Union The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eu ...

. She received 2,031 votes in the first round, ranking tenth among the Labour candidates, and was ultimately unsuccessful after subsequent counts. In October 2013, Muscat appointed Camilleri as a special envoy for Arab countries. She was reported as a potential party nominee for

President of Malta The president of Malta () is the constitutional head of state of Malta. The president is indirect election, indirectly elected by the House of Representatives of Malta, which appoints the president for a five-year term and requires them to sw ...

after the Labour Party regained the majority that year. ''

Malta Today ''Malta Today'' is a twice-weekly English language newspaper published in was published in 1999, and started out as a Friday newspaper. History ''Malta Today'' was first published on Friday, 19 November 1999. It was edited by Saviour Balzan, ...

'' reported that Camilleri and Minister for Social Policy

Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, (born 7 December 1958) is a Maltese politician who served as President of Malta from 2014 to 2019. She has been president of Eurochild since 2019. Previously, as a member of the Labour Party, Coleiro Preca was a M ...

were the top two candidates considered by Muscat; the prime minister ultimately nominated Coleiro Preca. Camilleri was named a Member of the National Order of Merit in 2016. She co-authored a 2018 book published by the Labour Party to mark Muscat's tenth anniversary as leader of the Labour Party. In 2021, she called on the Labour Party to apologize after Muscat's chief of staff was charged with money laundering and Muscat himself resigned after the assassination of a Maltese investigative journalist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Camilleri, Maria 1952 births 20th-century educators 21st-century educators 20th-century Maltese politicians 20th-century Maltese women politicians 21st-century Maltese politicians 21st-century Maltese women politicians 20th-century women educators 21st-century women educators Labour Party (Malta) politicians Living people Maltese academic administrators Maltese schoolteachers Members of the House of Representatives of Malta Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Recipients of the National Order of Merit (Malta) School principals and headteachers Women school principals and headteachers