Former Gżira PL mayor to contest election with PN
Conrad Borg Manché clashed with PL over development projects in Gżira before resigning
Former Gżira mayor Conrad Borg Manché has submitted his nomination as a Nationalist Party candidate.
He will contest the 5th and 10th districts.
A lawyer by profession, Borg Manché served as Gżira mayor for nine years, first with the Labour Party and later as an independent.
Speaking to Times of Malta, Borg Manche said his loyalty has always been to the country and not one political party or another.
"I'd like to thank Alex Borg for accepting me into the party. Family law is my passion and he recognised that. I will do anything for those who are suffering," he said.
He rose to prominence in 2016, when he became a key figure in the dispute over public access to Manoel Island. He joined activists in a direct action, when gates and fencing blocking public access to the foreshore were forced open during a protest led by Kamp Emerġenza Ambjent.
Borg Manché was also central to the fight against plans to relocate a fuel station onto part of Gżira’s Council of Europe Garden, with the local council successfully challenging the Lands Authority’s attempt to take back 930 square metres of the public space.
He resigned from the PL in 2023, saying the party was no longer a socialist party that fought for workers. In his resignation letter, he said he had “had enough” after feeling the party had disrespected him and Gżira residents over multiple issues.
That year, he also drew criticism from LGBTIQ+ advocates over comments and social media activity around EuroPride 2023, after he shared criticism of a public dance event involving a drag performer and children.
In 2024, he contested both the European Parliament election and the Gżira local council election as an independent. During the campaign, he said he would join the European Conservatives and Reformists group if elected, while insisting his “socialist principles” remained intact.
Borg Manché went on to be voted out of the local council, being replaced as mayor by Labour’s Neville Chetcuti.
Borg Manché was among five EP election candidates referred to police over late campaign spending declarations. Proceedings against him were initially halted after a magistrate found the declaration had since been filed and the delay was not in bad faith, but in 2025 the Court of Appeal later annulled that decision and ordered the case to be reheard.