Prime Minister Robert Abela took aim at the Nationalist Party on Sunday, saying that the internal election outcome in the PN leadership race is proof that the party is divided.

Abela was addressing a political activity in Valletta. 6 out of 10 PN tesserati did not vote for Alex Borg, Abela said. "If ever there was strong evidence that the PN is divided down the middle, it was given in the past hours."

Alex Borg was declared the winner in the PN's internal election on Sunday, although by a slim margin of 44 votes over PN MP Adrian Delia.

Abela said that this is "the third official leader in the past 5 years, aside from the true leaders who lead from behind the scenes." He congratulated Alex Borg, but also Adrian Delia "for getting a draw," in reference to the slim margin of victory.

Abela said they were the two candidates who were the second preference of the whole party, saying everyone knew it wanted someone else, in reference to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

Abela said the PN does not even know who it wants to lead it, "let alone what it stands for. The result was the fruit of that chaos. 12 years during which, while the country was moving forward, the PN kept moving backwards."

"God forbid we had to wait" for the PN to fix the "new chaos" it has created, Abela said.

Abela said that this has increased the responsibility on the PL as "the only united movement" in the country.  "We want to continue being the movement that is appealable to everyone of goodwill. I am ready to work every day with everyone of goodwill. Let us put aside partisanism and work together to push the country forward," he said.

During his speech, Abela spoke of the principle of improving quality of life. "In everything we have done, we always had our vision, that a pl government puts the people first."

Abela said that the Labour Party is governed by the principle of social justice. He also said that the PL government defended businesses, so that they would continue to invest in the country.

"Over the past days we heard that Malta has the least amount of people dependent on social benefits it ever had," Abela said. "But while we have the least dependance on social benefits, we are investing more than ever in the social sector. This means that those who need government protection are receiving the best social benefits we ever had."

He said that in Europe, there are far bigger countries that are talking about reducing investment in welfare state. "And we are going towards a budget that will have the best social investment we've ever had in our country. That is how you provide the dignity of quality of life to all who deserve it."

The country's success was built because the PL always had a vision, he said, and that the PL government reformed without fear and took decisions that needed to be taken.

He said it governs for the whole population, so that everyone would get part of the wealth being created. "We believe our country should always have a strong middle class, which is why we gave the biggest tax cut."

He said the government's electoral pledge of reducing company tax will be implemented.

He spoke about having strengthened pensions year on year. "Today I am pleased to tell you that in a few weeks' time, your quality of life will again be pushed upwards," he said.

Abela praised Malta's economy, saying the country has highest economic growth in EU. This week saw Eurostat issue a statistic which confirmed that Malta's economy in first six months grew by twice as much as EU average, he went on to say.

"The PL is the only movement that brought Malta from the back, to first in the world in terms of civil rights," he said.

Abela announced an upcoming pilot project in two bays, one in Malta and one in Gozo. He said that, aside from a small section in these bays, people will not be able to smoke. "This is a pilot project we will implement in the coming weeks."

Regarding the expansion of the Freeport, Abela said that it will not only strengthen the infrastructure, but the country will also become a global cargo hub. He announced that a land reclamation project will be carried out, because he believes this is a niche for investment and a benefit for the country.

Regarding healthcare, the Prime Minister said that a contract has been signed with the private sector to build and manage the elderly home in Bormla.

He also said that new realities are being addressed with the introduction of miscarriage leave for couples going through the difficult moments of pregnancy loss, and said that government is also working to introduce a special leave for parents whose babies need to receive intensive care in the NPICU.