'PN must reach voters with different ideologies' - Alex Borg
Party leadership vote will be held on July 15, with Borg the only nominee
The Nationalist Party must appeal to voters with different ideologies who feel pushed away from politics, Opposition leader Alex Borg said on Sunday.
Speaking during an interview on NET TV programme Analiżi, Borg said the PN has to adopt a new political style to reach people who did not feel represented by the current political system.
“Today we have different pockets of people who have different ideologies and different beliefs and they feel distanced from politics; we need to convince them with a new style of politics.” Said Borg.
He said one of the party’s priorities would be to reach non-voters who stayed away from the polls in the May 30 election.
Borg said the media had an important role to play in delivering that message across different platforms, including social media and traditional outlets.
“The message needs to get to everyone, whether they are young, old or middle-aged. At the end of the day, politics is the key to the future.”
He said the PN had to regain the trust of about 50,000 people who chose not to vote, adding that the party needed to be “on the ground and to the point in terms of data.”
Borg said he wanted to modernise the Nationalist Party and make it more in touch with ordinary people, while holding on to its core values.
“We need to reengineer them (the values of the PN) to the realities of the world today.”
He said many people felt disconnected from politics and argued that the party had to remind voters that political participation could affect the next five years of their lives.
“That is why we must convince people of the power that they have when they vote.”
It is not the first time Borg has spoken about the party being open to everyone, irrespective of ideology.
Earlier this year, before the election was announced, he said anyone with good intentions was welcome within the party.
“This is a party open to everyone”. He made the comment during an interview on Andrew Azzopardi’s programme Andrew fuq Campus on 103.7, when asked whether conservative former PN MP Edwin Vassallo would still have a place in the party.
PN general council to vote on Borg’s leadership after election
During Sunday’s interview, Borg also appealed to members of the PN’s General Council after submitting his nomination to remain party leader.
“Together we started a journey of renewal which we must now continue to build on,” said Alex Borg. “Your trust will be a mandate to continue strengthening the Party, to move closer to the people and to build a stronger Party for a better Malta.”
Borg is the only nominee for the post.
Under the party statute, a leadership vote must be held after every general election. The vote to confirm Borg as leader will take place on July 15, with early voting sessions on July 8 and July 11 in Pietà and Sannat.
Borg was confirmed as Nationalist Party leader less than a year ago, in September 2025.