Letters to the editor – June 24, 2026

Breach of statute

Eddy Privitera of Naxxar writes:

Barely hours had passed since the general election result had been officially announced by the electoral commission that Alex Borg made it known he would be retaining his Gozo seat and ceding the one he won in the 12th district.

Adrian Delia had immediately reacted, saying that the Nationalist Party’s statute, which had been amended under Delia’s watch as PN and opposition leader, was very clear: elected candidates were bound by article 116 to cede the seat where they had won a lesser percentage of votes compared to the district’s quota.

PN supporters greet Alex Borg as he arrives at the Naxxar counting hall. File photo: Times of Malta

Borg had won a better percentage of votes compared to the quota on the 12th district . So, according to the party statute, he was bound to give up his Gozo seat, thus giving young PN candidate Luke Said, an environmentalist activist, the opportunity to be elected to parliament.

But Borg’s sheer arrogance knows no bounds. He put pressure on the PN’s general secretary, Charles Bonello, and the PN’s executive council president, Mark Anthony Sammut, to find a way for him to be able to retain his Gozo seat. Within hours, the party announced that Borg would be retaining his Gozo seat and ceding the one on the 12th district. The reason given by the PN was incredulous: “The statute applies to all candidates but the leader is not a candidate.” 

If Borg was not “a candidate” for the May 30 election, why had he filled up the same form as all other candidate and submitted his nomination to the electoral commission to include him as a candidate on the PN’s list of candidates on the official voting document?

So, while ordinary candidates are bound by the PN’s  strict letter of the statute, a privileged exception was carved out for the leader. Borg has sent a cynical message to his own colleagues: “All candidates are equal but one is simply more equal than the others.” My apologies to George Orwell.

Borg’s sheer arrogance so early in his political career does not bode well for the PN’s future, if he retains his leadership role.

Rubbish galore

Anna Micallef of Sliema writes:

As the weather heats up, visitors multiply, rubbish will do likewise.

All the stats and admonishments about Maltese households still generating too much waste and poor comparisons with European nations keep missing one obvious point. That is simply how many people live in this overcrowded space, more than anywhere else given size/population.

Rubbish generated through daily life is just one other result of too many people, too little space and resources stretched too tight.