Who are the candidates running to take over from Joseph Muscat?

Labour MPs Chris Fearne and Robert Abela are the two candidates in the running to replace Joseph Muscat as party leader and prime minister. We take a closer look at who the two men are.  Chris Fearne The 56-year-old paediatric surgeon is currently Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister.   He was first elected to public office as an MP following Labour’s 2013 electoral landslide victory.  [attach id=806803 size="medium" align="left" type="image"]Chris Fearne. [/attach] In a 2014 Cabinet reshuffle he became Health Parliamentary Secretary and eventually took over the Health Ministry in 2016, after Konrad Mizzi was stripped of ministerial duties for his role in the Panama Papers scandal.   In the summer of 2017, Mr Fearne entered the race for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party. Although then-Equality Minister Helena Dalli was touted as the party leadership’s favourite, Mr Fearne won that election and was elected deputy leader for parliamentary affairs, having also beaten Finance Minister Edward Scicluna.   Mr Fearne’s Labour credentials date back to his youth, when he was an active member of the Mintoff-era Labour youth movement Għaqda Zagħzagħ Soċjalisti.  His backers in...