For years, PN voters wanted Metsola. Then Alex Borg came along

For the first time in more than two years, Nationalist Party voters have the leader they want.  

A large majority of PN voters say Alex Borg is the best man to lead the party, with the 30-year-old appearing to have dragged the Opposition party out of Roberta Metsola’s shadow.  

A new Times of Malta survey carried out by Esprimi research company reveals that Metsola, who for the past two years ranked as PN voters’ favoured leader, is now a long distance behind Borg among their preferences. 

Pollsters interviewed a representative sample of 600 people between September 29 and October 9, weeks into Alex Borg’s election as the PN’s new leader.  

When asked ‘Who do you believe should be the leader of the Nationalist Party?’, just over 72 per cent of respondents who said they voted for PN in the last general election picked Borg.  

Metsola, and Borg’s leadership rival Adrian Delia, ranked a distant second and third, respectively.

The level of support Borg enjoys among PN voters suggests he is still in the honeymoon phase of his leadership, with enthusiasm high and voters excited about him and the party’s future.   

It will, however, encourage PN voters who have grown accustomed to backing a party racked by infighting and indecision. While Borg’s predecessor Bernard Grech succeeded in stemming internal divisions, PN voters progressively lost faith in his leadership. 

Grech enjoyed broad support among PN voters through his first two years as leader. That changed after the PN’s defeat in the 2022 general election. In a March 2023 poll, Metsola eclipsed Grech as PN voters’ preferred leader. By October of that year, she was the favoured candidate by a huge margin. 

But when Grech announced his resignation in June, Metsola resisted internal pressure and said she would remain in Brussels rather than run for party leader. The decision upset some PN voters and appears to have weakened her standing among the party base.  

While in February 45 per cent of PN voters wanted Metsola to lead the party, now just 10 per cent do. And her popularity has also waned among non-voters, who now overwhelmingly favour Borg and would also rather see Delia lead the PN than her.  

Even Labour voters believe Borg is the person best suited to be PN leader, with 38 per cent citing him.

That is roughly twice the share obtained by Delia and Metsola combined. By contrast, in February, Metsola was the individual most frequently cited as best suited to lead the PN. Borg, at the time an MP, got just 0.8% of mentions.  

Robert Abela’s party leadership 

More than five years into his leadership, Robert Abela has reasserted himself as the man best-placed to lead the Labour Party.  

A total of 54.5 per cent of Labour voters say he is the right man for that job, up from the 51 per cent he obtained in February.  

Ian Borg, with 11.8 per cent, ranks as their second-favoured candidate.  

PN voters also see Abela as Labour’s ideal leader, albeit by a significantly smaller margin and with some reluctance: more than half of PN voters were unable or unwilling to name a person to lead Labour.  

Robert Abela remains popular.