The residents of a small Gozo village are receiving conflicting letters explaining why their PN mayor decided to seek re-election as an independent.

In a letter posted to homes in Fontana, PN secretary general Michael Piccinino told residents the party asked Saviour Borg, who has been the PN mayor for nearly 20 years, to run on the party ticket again but he refused.

However, in a letter of his own, Borg told residents he wanted to run as a PN candidate again and had informed Piccinino of this in April but party never got back to him, and, he was, therefore, forced to run as an independent.

“As soon as it started seeking candidates for its local council elections, the PN invited Salvu Borg to re-contest as a candidate on its ticket if he wanted to continue serving,” a letter addressed to Fontana residents and signed by Piccinino last week said.

“He refused to contest the election on the PN ticket. We respected and still respect that decision.”

The PN, therefore, found four new candidates for the locality, he said, and it is only through a vote for these candidates that the village can continue to move forward.

Letter acknowledged council's positive achievements

The letter also acknowledged that the local council’s positive achievements over the past three decades were also partly attributable to Borg’s work.

Days later, Borg rebutted that version of events with his own letter, which he sent to residents, saying the PN statement only seeks to discredit his work as mayor.

In a regional committee meeting last year, he did not want to commit to running again, he explained, as he was still overseeing ongoing local council projects and felt it was premature to take a decision then.

But, as the election drew closer, the PN never reached out to him to re-contest, he said and, in a meeting for local council candidates in April this year, he approached Piccinino and informed him of his wish to seek re-election on the PN ticket.

“He had promised he would take my request to the administrative committee and that he would get back to me by the time nominations open but, to this day, I remain without an answer,” he told residents.

He said that, since there are still ongoing projects for which he fought for alone for many years, he had no choice but to contest the election as an independent.

Borg first contested the local elections in 1993 and was elected as a councillor for the first few years, after which he was elected mayor. He has been the PN mayor of Fontana since 2005.

One of his biggest projects is the construction of a civic centre next to the church, which will also have a garden on the roof and which is in its final phase before completion.

Fontana – known among Gozitans as It-Triq tal-Għajn – is a small locality nestled between Victoria and Kerċem and is home to around 1,000 residents.