WATCH | Alex Borg quashes talk of leadership bid: ‘I want Bernard Grech as the next prime minister’

Nationalist MP Alex Borg has ruled out a leadership bid, but does not exclude the possibility of contesting in the future if a vacancy arises.

Borg, who is a rising star in the PN, told MaltaToday his focus now is to help the party win the next election with Bernard Grech becoming prime minister.

“What happens in the future we will see; I can never exclude anything, but my primary goal right now is to see the PN win the election,” he said in an interview being published today.

Following Opposition leader Bernard Grech’s dismal showing in the last MaltaToday survey, which saw him get a trust rating of 20% when compared to Prime Minister Robert Abela’s 46.5%, rumblings of internal discontent grew exponentially.

Among those who PN functionaries see as a possible replacement to Grech is European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. But with Metsola failing to say whether she will consider returning to Malta from Brussels, many PN supporters see Borg as a potential leader.

I can never exclude anything, but my primary goal right now is to see the PN win the election Alex Borg

In a 2022 MaltaToday survey among PN councillors after the general election, Borg was one of five people indicated as a possible leader, although the vast majority of councillors had wanted Bernard Grech to remain.

But for Borg, talk of a leadership bid is too premature, insisting he will be giving Grech his full backing until the end.

Citing former leader Adrian Delia’s ousting in October 2020, Borg insisted every leader should be backed until the end of his tenure.

“The person who started my political career was Adrian Delia when he was leader, and during the turbulence under his leadership, which obviously wasn’t his fault, I remained by his side until the last day. It’s not because he is Adrian, it’s because he was the party leader. A democratically elected leader should not be removed,” Borg said.

Delia had faced an insurrection by a group of MPs, who called themselves ‘blue heroes’. The rebels had forced motions of no confidence in the leader within the party structures and also tried to convince the President of the Republic to appoint someone else as opposition leader. Finally, the party headed for a leadership contest which saw Delia being challenged by Bernard Grech.

It is this bitter experience that deeply divided the PN that Borg does not want to see repeated. He insisted that he does not want to see the PN go through a leadership race since this would mean it would have lost the next general election.

“You will now probably ask me what will I do when a vacancy arises. I do not want a vacancy to arise, because that would mean the PN lost the election,” he said. “Whenever the election comes, my goal is to see the Nationalist Party win the election, and yes, see Bernard Grech as the next prime minister of Malta,” he said.

Borg is the PN’s star candidate in Gozo having obtained the highest number of votes among PN candidates in the 2022 general election. His first count tally was second only to that of Labour Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri.

Gozo is one of the PN’s silver linings, with surveys showing a majority in favour of the PN. Furthermore, in the 2024 local council elections, the PN managed to turn Gozo in its favour, obtaining 50.6%, against the PL’s 46.1%.