'Your chance to vote for change,' Alex Borg tells Sliema meeting

A Nationalist government would solve the problems that “others have created”, Alex Borg told an enthusiastic crowd of party supporters at a gathering in Sliema on Sunday.

“Change cannot only be a political slogan but a personal responsibility. Our forefathers understood this, and now it is our turn — not out of political loyalty, but as a nation,” the Opposition leader said.

Speaking at one of the party's last mass meetings, six days before voters go to the polls, Borg reiterated his party’s headline electoral pledges, including building a network of new hospitals and making all cancer medication free of charge.

He also discussed the party’s plan to reduce income tax, remove inheritance tax, increase student stipends by 25 per cent from September and build a new school every year throughout the legislature.

Nationalist Party supporters filled  Dingli Street, most wearing blue and many flying PN and European Union flags. 

The PN have often held mass meetings in Sliema, a town considered to be the party’s top stronghold. 

Many of the street’s residents participated in the festivities, hoisting banners from balconies and following the meeting from the high-rise apartments overlooking the street from both sides. 

The meeting featured a DJ performance, including songs associated with the party, including Europe’s The Final Countdown and Eiffel 65’s I’m Blue.

PN supporters gathered in Sliema on Sunday evening, long considered to be the party's top stronghold. Photo: Jonathan Borg.

PN deputy leader Alex Perici Calascione, one of two opening speakers before Borg, indirectly mentioned multiple surveys indicating a 30,000 vote gap in favour of the PL in the upcoming general election.

Pointing to the sizeable crowd, the deputy leader said: “Here is the survey you need right in front of us”.

Psychiatrist David Vella Fondacaro also spoke at the meeting. 

During his address, Borg mentioned some of the party’s late well-known figures from the area, including Robert Arrigo, Francis Zammit Dimech and Karl Gouder.

Mass transport studies 'ready'

One of the party’s main proposals is the construction of an underground mass transport system, which Borg says a PN government can build within five years. 

He said that pre-emptive studies for the proposed metro system were “ready”, and that a Nationalist government would begin work on the project immediately. 

The Opposition leader emphasised that traffic was estimated to cost the Maltese economy €770 million a year, in addition to many deaths due to respiratory disease caused by air pollution.  

Borg said the PL government’s track record on such a transport system was a metro plan that never took off and was shelved.  

He said the PL’s new plan was no better, and that even Finance Minister Clyde Caruana was reluctant to sign off on the project. 

“Unlike them, Adrian Delia said that as finance minister, he would have no problem giving his go-ahead for the project”, said Borg.

Alex Borg greets supporters at the meeting. Photo: PN

Borg said the PN would handle overpopulation by creating a new authority to ensure that infrastructure keeps up with the number of foreign nationals, while also protecting the national identity.

“Only a PN government can protect Maltese identity. We are a democratic Christian party, we are the party of the nation,” the PN leader said. 

Appeal to disillusioned Voters

Towards the end of his speech, Borg appealed to PL supporters disillusioned with the government. 

“I ask you: has the government delivered on what it promised 13 years ago? Are you seeing the quality of life they promised?”. 

Borg said that four former PL supporters who remain socialists have “had the courage” to switch to the PN, naming Ivan Bartolo, Charles Azzopardi, Edmond Cuschieri and Conrad Borg Manché.

“The PL have attacked them, but they found me to protect them,” he said.

Borg also appealed to Nationalists who switched their vote to the Labour Party in the past. 

“In the 25 years we spent in government, we did a lot of good, but we weren’t perfect, and we hurt people. I wasn’t there, but still I ask you for an apology.” 

Borg said he understood that nationalists had voted for the PL to bring about change. 

“Just like in the past when you voted for change, this is your chance to again vote for change,” he said.