The Mayor of Victoria, the city of Gozo, is Dr Samuel Azzopardi, an Advocate by profession. He is also the President of the Gozo Region the largest region of the Republic of Malta. He represents Gozo on the Committee of the Regions which is the assembly for local and regional government in the European Union www.cor.europa.eu and is full member of the CIVEX (Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs) and NAT (Commission for Natural Resources) commissions of the Committee of the Regions. He hails from Partit Nazzjonalista www.pn.org.mt which is currently the party in government in Malta.
Samuel Azzopardi was born in Victoria on 5th of April 1982 to Ludovigo and Maria Assunta nee` Camilleri. On successfully completing his post-secondary education at Sir M.A. Refalo Centre for Further Studies; in 2000 he entered the University of Malta and graduated B.A. Legal and Humanistic Studies (2003), Diploma Notary Public (2004), Doctor of Laws LL.D (2006) and Master of Arts in Financial Services (2008).
Samuel Azzopardi was an Erasmus Programme student at the Universita degli Studi di Verona and later graduated in Canonical Marriages Cases, Jurisprudence and Procedure (Adv. Trib. Eccles. Melit.) in 2006. He did his legal traineeship with Grech & Grech Associates under the direction of the late Dr. Michael Grech and Dr. Georgine Grech. Admitted to the bar in 2007, Samuel is self-employed and has an office at 42 A Main Gate Street Victoria Gozo VCT 1344. He also served as an auditor with the Gozo Diocese Ecclesiastical Tribunal.
From a very young age he was actively involved in organisations and politics as a founding member and President of the school co-operative Future Scoop http://www.education.gov.mt/edu/other_org/scoops at the Ninu Cremona Lyceum Complex which Scoop was singled out at an Educational National Conference for its creative and innovative proposals. At Sixth Form he served as President of the first officially constituted student council: Kunsill Studenti Sir. Michelangelo Refalo (K.S.S.M.R.). He was also a founding member of ZEST, the Youth Group of the Oasi foundation www.oasi.org.mt
At University he retained a keen interest in student affairs and held various posts within the Gozo University Group (GUG) www.gug.org.mt As President he was responsible for the organisation’s complete restructuring and overhaul and organised the first Gozo Youth Congress in 2002. Working with Kunsill Studenti Universitarji he represented Gozitan students in the Social Policy Commission (KPS) and the Education Commission (KE). www.ksu.org.mt . For a number of years he served as a member of the board of directors of the University of Malta Gozo Centre www.um.edu.mt/ugc.
Samuel Azzopardi represented GUG in the Gozo Regional Projects Committee, the Government committee responsible for EU funded projects. He represented the committee on the EU projects monitoring committee within the Office of the Prime Minister.
Within the Victoria Community he was a pioneer of the Cathedral parish radio, a founding member of the Cathedral Youth Fellowship and a member of the Parish Council. He served as the first president of the S.K. Victoria Wanderers Football Club Nursery and youth section www.skvw.org where he is still a current member.
For five years, 2001-2006, he was a member of Moviment Zghazagh Partit Nazzjonalista www.mzpn.org (the youth movement of the PN) and president of MZPN Gozo. He also represented MZPN on the executive of Partit Nazzjonalista for two years.
In 2002 a panel chaired by Rev. Prof Peter Serracin Inglott chose him to represent the Maltese Government at the Youth Convention for the Future of Europe www.youth-convention.net which eventually led to the Constitution of Europe and the Lisbon Treaty.
In March 2003, at age 20 he was elected to the Victoria Local Council www.victoria.org.mt . During that election he garnered 446 first count votes and he served on the local council for a full three year term till 2006. He did not contest the 2006 election for personal reasons.
In the 6th June 2009 local elections he was elected once again to the Victoria Local Council. In this election he polled 634 votes the highest amount of votes from all candidates contesting the Victoria local elections. Samuel was sworn-in as Mayor on the 31st of July 2009. “Vizjoni Cara” – literally translated a clear vision, was his guiding motto for the local elections and reflects his work and vision as Mayor of the city. On the 10th October 2009 he was elected as President of the Gozo region and member of the Local Council Associations www.lca.org.mt and he was sworn in as President of Gozo region on the 1st Juanuary 2010.
In January 2009 he was inducted into the Rotary Gozo Club, District 2110 Sicily and Malta www.rotarygozo.org. He is a member of the Chamber of Advocates and a director of the newly set up Skola Politika Fortunato Mizzi – a political school aimed at providing politically informed leaders for today’s ever-changing society. He is married to Dr Ramona Azzopardi and they have a daughter Emma.
