ANALYSIS | The Delia-Borg contest: Between second chance and fresh gamble

Adrian Delia may have entered the leadership race with a sense of entitlement—a belief that he is owed a second chance to reclaim the years he lost at the helm. But initial polls have suggested that rather than starting as the front runner, Delia is the underdog who needs to catch up and command attention.

Tried, tested, and unfairly cast aside before even leading his party in a national election, Delia now faces the uphill task of convincing a still-reluctant party that he has changed and matured from the infighting of the past. To succeed, he must win over those who once backed his removal without losing the trust of those who supported him in 2017 as an anti-establishment force. In this sense, Delia is not just running against Alex Borg, but against his own past.

His profile has certainly grown since his leadership days, particularly due to his court victory on the Vitals hospitals deal. He remains a more passionate speaker than his rival, and arguably the better orator. But he lacks novelty. Delia may be seen as too familiar, too predictable—and in a general election context, too unlikely to strike fear in Labour’s ranks.

Alex Borg, on the other hand, has the one advantage Delia cannot replicate—he is unknown and untested. His mystery makes him a blank slate onto which members can project their hopes. So far, the party’s archaic election rules have even denied members the chance to see him debate Delia. Ironically, this gives Borg, who is a less experienced debater, an advantage. Instead, the campaign has been reduced to private meetings, where the young contender is said to exude energy and enthusiasm behind closed doors.

The age factor

At just 30, Borg is eyeing the leadership of a major party, and potentially the premiership by age 32—an ambition that may seem reckless or even presumptuous for some but courageous for others.

Sure, there are very few international parallels. One exception was Sebastian Kurz, the Austrian right-wing chancellor who took power at 31, only to lose it two years later after being swept by a corruption scandal.  

But unlike Borg, whose experience is limited to the backbench, Kurz had already served as foreign Minister at 27. The next youngest European leader was Sanna Marin, who became prime minister of Finland at 34 in 2019, and was elected leader of the Social Democratic Party the following year.

The reality is that the age factor is bound to return to haunt Borg when facing the 47-year-old Abela, whose political experience now includes leading the country through a pandemic and global instability. But Borg’s age has turned out to be less of a liability when facing the 55-year-old Delia whose experience as party leader is associated with party infighting.

The curiosity factor

Moreover, Borg carries far less baggage, and most importantly, he benefits from what Delia lacks—the curiosity factor.

His relative obscurity also makes him a more confusing opponent for Labour. He is less known, younger, and exudes the charm of someone who hasn’t yet been bruised by the frontlines.

He’s already showing signs of being a ‘Teflon’ politician—smiling when cornered, dodging difficult questions, and projecting himself as a politician destined to win. His track record as the party’s heavy weight in Gozo also backs his winning streak. This allows him to play it safe—say little, avoid controversy, and let Delia grapple with the ghosts of 2017 and 2020.

The race, however, is taking place in the absence of any real policy debate. Both candidates are more focused on appealing to the party’s various clans. These are factions bound less by ideology than by personal allegiance.

Delia, to his credit, has attempted to push the envelope by criticising the party’s media restrictions and calling for state funding of political parties and greater limits on private donations. Borg, meanwhile, sticks to a cautious, catch-all script. He brands himself as a mild conservative—centre-right on wealth creation, centre-left on distribution. But this triangulation ignores a fundamental reality that Malta’s governance crisis stems largely from political complicity with big business, especially in construction. 

In short, the motor engine fuelling economic growth is also having tangible consequences on the quality of life of citizens. 

Borg’s refusal to commit to excluding any future extension of development zones speaks volumes. In the absence of such a commitment, his commitment to revise local plans raises more questions. His recent vote in favour of allowing the Chambray concessionaires to transfer ownership rights to other developers shows that when push comes to shove, he toes the same pro-development line that defined the PN in the 1990s, particularly in Gozo. Still, Borg is also aware that over development has emerged as a top concern, which he addresses by promising to listen to everyone. But as the Chambray case illustrates, choices are in the end inevitable.

Perils of ‘catch-all’ politics

In this sense, Borg’s stance fits squarely within the managerialist mould of Maltese politics that sees elections as contests between rival administrators of the same economic model. Delia, by contrast, is more willing to question the model but remains vague or clueless on how he would change it. Borg himself rightly hints that in the absence of non-EU foreign workers the economy would collapse while Delia has toned down his message from his days as leader, simply saying that Malta should reduce its dependence on them. 

What’s still missing from Borg’s campaign is a signature proposal—a bold policy that marks him as a genuine agenda-setter for the country. Instead, he appears more focused on internal party reforms. But this isn’t a race for party treasurer, events organiser or chief executive; it’s a contest for the potential prime minister’s seat.

For now, much of the conversation around Borg revolves not around ideas, but past comments, such as his preference for Trump over Biden—remarks he now distances himself from even if his symbolic admiration for Italy’s hard right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, keeps conservatives hopeful.

Curiously, Borg’s life story as the partner of a divorced parent, also makes him relatable to a segment alienated by his party’s conservatism.

Borg has also hinted that on moral issues like euthanasia he would give a free-vote, while refusing to say how he would vote himself. But this raises another question: Would he do the same with laws tempering with Malta’s draconian abortion ban? For what makes euthanasia more of a moral issue than abortion? In this sense Delia is more categorical in his undiluted moral conservatism, even if both politicians were on the same page when they opposed pre-implantation genetic testing for couples seeking IVF in 2022.

Delia, on the other hand, occasionally puts forward thoughtful ideas like planting more trees to reduce urban temperatures but stops short of bold conclusions, such as acknowledging that meaningful tree cover in residential areas requires cutting back on on-street parking.

And therein lies the central problem with catch-all politics—it paralyses bold choices and keeps the status quo intact. While the logic of a two-party system encourages broad, consensual platforms spanning across a wide ideological spectrum, real social progress sometimes demands a willingness to choose between conflicting interests and lobbies.  Delia appears more focused on national and even international issues, even sounding less parochial than his rival, by denouncing the genocide in Gaza. Yet, both candidates struggle to make those tough choices.

In this race, Delia is the candidate wrestling with history; Borg is the one untouched by it.  Delia can make a strong case that, with a general election on the horizon, the party needs an experienced hand with the stomach to face the onslaught of Labour’s propaganda machine.

Nonetheless, after losing three consecutive general elections and three MEP contests, the Nationalist Party may be less inclined to play it safe and be more in the mood for a gamble. This may ultimately prove to be Borg’s best asset and Delia’s ultimate weakness, although one can never underestimate Delia’s ability to make a comeback.