Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1538990
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 31 AUGUST 2025 ANALYSIS The Alex and Adrian Alex Borg and Adrian Delia held rallies to outline the Nationalist Party's path to victory in the next Kurt Sansone followed proceedings to understand their pitch to the tesserati. THE urgency of an impending general election campaign was not lost on Alex Borg and Adrian Delia when they ad- dressed supporters at their respective rallies last week. In Floriana, with the Independence monument as his backdrop, Borg said he will "immediately" appoint a cam- paign manager to start planning for the general election. At the Ta' Qali national park amphi- theatre Delia spoke of a "short runway" for take-off since the country "was on the cusp" of a general election. An executable plan For Borg, who has had to battle the narrative of being inexperienced, it was necessary to show he has a plan for the 'day after'. He had to put party mem- bers' minds at rest that if he is elected leader on 6 September, he will hit the ground running to prepare the PN for a general election. "I want to beat Robert Abela and the Labour Party," he em- phasised. Veteran businessperson Joe Caruana Curran, a tesserat, endorsed Borg on the night, insisting that age should not stand in the way of leadership. Caruana Curran highlighted his own experience when at the age of 26 he became presi- dent of Valletta FC, leaving other foot- ball club presidents much older than him dumbfounded by the success of his team—Valletta FC won 32 major hon- ours between 1987 and 2003, making it the greatest period in the club's history. On the night, Borg delivered a clear, executable plan that suggested he al- ready had people in mind to fill certain roles. He kept the name of the cam- paign manager and the members of an audit team he will set up to help the party publish its accounts in the first 100 days, under wraps. But he did mention the name of George Vital Zammit as the person who will lead a national convention within the first 100 days. Vital Zammit, an academic, was entrusted by outgo- ing leader Bernard Grech as the person to start drawing up the PN's election manifesto. And Borg would also propose a change to the party statute to reintro- duce the role of deputy leader for par- liamentary affairs. A campaign hub For Delia, reference to an impending general election was a way of impress- ing upon party members the need to have someone with experience like him at the helm. "Labour do not want Adrian Delia to lead the PN because I already beat them in parliament and in court," he insisted with reference to the court action he took that led to the cancellation of the Vitals hospitals contract. That victory, obtained against all odds and almost single-handedly, stands as a feather in his cap. The former PN leader spoke on the need to create a "campaign hub" at par- ty headquarters that will "prepare for an election" and "attract good people". No names were dropped but the PN's youth wings will play an important role in this election hub, he said. Delia also suggested the creation of a "mobile outreach unit" in the form of a repurposed bus—a rehash of an idea used in the 1996 and 1998 election campaigns—that would travel to dif- ferent towns, allowing people to meet party officials and candidates. At the basis of what he described as a modernisation drive, Delia posited the use of artificial intelligence to help the party organise itself administratively so that public concerns, complaints and feedback are not lost in a bureaucratic labyrinth. Endorsing Delia's vision of an AI-driv- en party machinery was Alexiei Dingli, a professor of artificial intelligence. Bar a blip in in the chest super on the pre-recorded video where Alexiei's name was misspelt, the professor ex- plained that Delia's plan was doable if executed well and if it kept people at the heart of the process. A 'future prime minister' In a final message, Borg told support- ers that members will not be electing an Opposition leader but a "future But while Borg's rally provided an uplifting tone intended to boost enthusiasm and morale, Delia's was focussed more on issues thanks to a brief no-holds barred on-stage interview with radio host Andrew Azzopardi.