Maria Camilleri

Maria Dolores Camilleri (born 1952) is a Maltese politician and educator who was a member of the Parliament of Malta and a delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 1996 to 1998. She is a member of the Labour Party. In 1997, she co-founded the Mariam Al-Batool school in Paola for Muslim children, and was the headmistress of the school for 17 years.

Education and early career Camilleri was born in Rabat, Malta on 7 August 1952. She studied at the University of Malta, receiving an honours degree in arts in 1974 and a teacher's license in 1975. She taught at Maria Regina Girls Junior Lyceum in Blata l-Bajda and was the head of the St Venera primary school in Santa Venera.

Political career and Mariam Al-Batool Camilleri first ran for office in 1996 as a Labour Party for the Parliament of Malta. She received fewer votes than Evarist Bartolo, 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. 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. 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 after the Labour Party regained the majority that year. Malta Today reported that Camilleri and Minister for Social Policy Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca 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. 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.