Watch: Adrian Delia officially kicks off PN leadership bid

Updated 11.55am

Adrian Delia has officially submitted his bid to return as Nationalist Party leader, setting up a potential showdown with his former ally Alex Borg. 

The PN confirmed that Delia's official declaration of interest had been received by the party's electoral commissioner at 10.30am.

"I built a lot of bridges. I made a lot of friends. We're all ready to work together... We have an opposition which can show we're an alternative government," Delia told reporters as he was asked if he could heal any past rifts.

Delia previously served as leader for three years until he was ousted in 2020 after losing the support of a majority of his parliamentary group. He was replaced by Bernard Grech, who stepped down earlier this month.

Should the 55-year-old lawyer successfully contest the leadership, it would make him the first politician to return to the position in the party’s history.

On Saturday, Delia said that a general election is looming, possibly within a few months, and his experience could mean effective leadership from the start.

"We need to hit the ground running. We need to unite to convince people."

Asked if he was optimistic he could lead the PN to electoral victory, Delia was cautious: "I don't want to be presumptuous. But my experience, coupled with the fact I already occupied this role, put me in a position to know what the real issues are."

He downplayed any rivalry with Borg, saying that the PN's adversary was the Labour Party. Delia said a competition for the leadership was healthy, and he encouraged anyone else interested in the role to submit their expression of interest.

Applications to lead the PN opened last Sunday and close Sunday at 2pm. So far, only Delia and Gozitan MP Alex Borg have announced their intention to run.

Earlier this week, Delia told Times of Malta he was submitting his bid out of a “sense of responsibility and loyalty to my party and my country”, while stressing he has evolved since leaving the leadership role in 2020.

Nationalist Party MPs have so far remained guarded in their comments on the leadership race, with most saying they will back whoever is elected leader.

Delia entered politics in 2017 and became PN leader that same year. His three-year leadership was defined by internal rifts, culminating in an open rebellion by 17 MPs calling for his removal.

Since his first stint as leader, Delia has rebuilt support within the party, particularly through his role in the Vitals court case, where he led a long legal battle that ultimately annulled the “fraudulent” hospital's privatisation deal.

Speaking outside parliament Tuesday, Delia told journalists his job if elected was “not to kick people out, but to bring in many people we need,” when asked if he would seek to remove MPs responsible for his earlier downfall – such as Karol Aquilina and Beppe Fenech Adami.

Writing in Times of Malta on Saturday, the PN MP and Shadow Health Minister described the country as being at a “transformative juncture”, with global shifts in digital innovation and social values requiring “thoughtful reflection and deliberate action”. 

While Borg has said his campaign against Delia will be a “positive” one, describing it as “a race between friends”, only time will see how the election will be fought; PN insiders have described the pair’s relationship as turning bitter in recent days following Borg’s surprise announcement to run for leader.

Party sources told Times of Malta that Borg, 29, had previously agreed to take a step back and endorse Delia's campaign, leading to claims of betrayal from the latter’s camp. One canvasser for Delia described Borg as “one of the biggest liars” following his announcement to run.

Insiders in Borg's camp claim the opposite, however, insisting the Gozitan MP had indicated his intention to run before last weekend, with Delia giving the impression he would support him.

In public, however, the two – both considered to represent the party’s more conservative wing – have appeared to downplay any rift.

In a survey leaked to Times of Malta last week, 27.5% of respondents wanted Borg for leader, with former leader Adrian Delia registering 19.3% of preferences and former PN MP Franco Debono scoring 8.8%.

Almost 43% of all respondents, however, did not express a preference.

Bernard Grech, Adrian Delia and Alex Borg.