Alfred Bonnici (born 6 June 1934) is a Maltese physician and Nationalist Party politician who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives between 1966 and 1971.
Career
After attending primary and secondary school, Bonnici studied pharmacy and graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm.) and then went on to study medicine . Upon obtaining his doctorate in medicine, he became personal physician to Nationalist Party leader and Prime Minister George Borg Olivier until his death in 1980.
His political career began in 1962 with his election as the youngest member of the House of Representatives . After the elections in 1966 and 1971 to 1976, he represented the interests of the Nationalist Party in the 4th district and eventually in the 3rd district. In 1964, he was one of the six Nationalist Party Members of Parliament who voted against the post-independence republican constitution proposed by Prime Minister and Labor Party Leader Dom Mintoff.
In April 1966 he was elected Speaker of the House as the successor to Paolo Pace and held this position until he was replaced by Emmanuel Attard Bezzina in June 1971.
In addition, he was Malta's representative in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 3 May 1965 to 1 May 1966 and between 3 May 1976 and 1 January 1976.
In 1976 he decided not to contest the election to the House of Representatives again. The reason he later gave was the power struggle in the leadership of the Nationalist Party, which was won by Edward Fenech Adami after Borg Olivier officially resigned from this position for health reasons in 1976.
Life after politics
After leaving politics, he resumed his practice as a physician and became a respected specialist in aviation medicine and aviation medical expert. As such, he was, among other things, vice-president of the European Organization for Aviation Medicine, as well as Honorary President of the Association of Aviation Medical Examiners. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine (FRSM), the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health (FRSH) and the Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS).
He served for some time on the board of the National Council for the Elderly of the Ministry of Social Affairs as well as chairman of the Philatelic Society since 1982 and a member of the Maltese government's advisory board for stamp design.
He was also appointed a Knight of Malta, and in 1996, along with a number of other politicians, he received the commemorative medal of the 75th anniversary of Maltese autonomy.