Watch: Crowdfunding, AI and youth focus dominate PN leadership debate

Alex Borg said he plans to launch a crowdfunding campaign and podcast if elected leader, while Adrian Delia vowed to transform Dar Ċentrali into a digital hub using AI to direct campaign messaging, in the final debate ahead of Saturday’s election.

With almost half all eligible voters having already cast their votes in the first two days of early voting, Borg and Delia made their pitches to undecided voters, pledging to give the beleaguered party a fresh start.

The first debate had been a relatively placid affair, despite tensions occasionally simmering as the pair clashed over the party’s recent electoral results in Gozo and Delia made an ill-judged remark about Borg’s father.

Monday night's debate was even milder in tone, with the pair eager to present a united front in the face of NET reporter Robert Cremona’s questions.

However, the two candidates adopted starkly different approaches in their replies, with Delia placing his strong personality at the forefront of his pitch, while Borg made the case for generational change within the party.

It took Delia under a minute to bring up his crowning moment, his successful solo crusade to cancel the Vitals contract.

Policies may be important, Delia argued, but PN members would also be voting on personality.  And who better than somebody who won’t take no for an answer, Delia argued, pointing to his Vitals victory.

“People told me it was an impossible mission,” he said, describing perseverance as his main personality trait.

Borg, on the other hand, was keen to present himself as a winner, promising to change the party’s rhetoric and bring a winning mentality back to Pietá.

“Under my leadership, we can convince those people who used to vote PN before 2013 but now don't vote,” Borg said, holding up a sheet showing results of a recent poll in which he stacked up better against Prime Minister Robert Abela than Delia did.

“We have spent 12 years going around in circles. This is the moment to bring home an electoral win,” he said.

A future with a PN podcast?

Borg promised to shake up the party’s internal structures, creating a youth think tank to develop a manifesto for youths, immediately appointing a campaign manager to get the ball rolling on an election campaign and setting up a team to focus exclusively on developing policy for Gozo.

If elected leader, he said, he would also dedicate a day in the week to visiting a particular town, meeting its residents and community leaders, in an effort to bring the party closer to communities.

The party’s media would also be strengthened with a greater focus on social media and the creation of a podcast, he said. Within his first week, he would launch a crowdfunding campaign to fund the upcoming general election campaign, he said.

Delia, meanwhile, promised to revolutionise the role played by Dar Ċentrali, transforming it into an AI-driven “digital hub” receiving communication from experts, volunteers and the public, and delivering targeted communication to the electorate.

He promised to create a mobile unit managed by the party’s youth wings, Team Start and MŻPN, to reach younger voters.

The two candidates pledged to continue working with PN strategist George Vital Zammit, keeping him at the heart of the party if elected leader.

Zammit was tasked by outgoing PN leader Bernard Grech with writing the party’s electoral manifesto late last year.

Delia said Zammit would continue to work on the party’s manifesto, while Borg said he would chair a national convention to be held in the first 100 days of his leadership.

'I never give up'

As the debate drew to a close, Delia cast a contrite figure, harking back to his initial tenure as party leader.

“I made mistakes,” he said. “I was new and my lack of experience led to mistakes.”

Since then, Delia said, he has learned his lessons, remaining loyal to the party and demonstrating what he described as his main quality: “I never give up”.

Borg, on the other hand, said members’ choice was clear, arguing that he was the person to bring Malta’s undecided voters on board.

“The party is at a crossroads,” he said. “Will we look forward or turn backwards?”