The leadership election for the Nationalist Party came to a close on Sunday, and the result was so very close between the two candidates.

Alex Borg won, but by the smallest of margins, receiving 44 votes more than Adrian Delia had received. It literally came down to the wire.

The PN’s tesserati have spoken, choosing Borg, a candidate who many in the PN hope will now be able to appeal to younger voters, and also to the many undecideds.

Although both PN leadership candidates were seen as coming from the conservative camp of the party, they had some different views regarding the party’s internal structure. One example of this, was over the idea of introducing a CEO role within the Nationalist Party. Borg had, during the campaign, said that he wanted to create the role of CEO that would take over the financial aspects of the party, whose role would also be to maximise the income from the party's assets, although Delia had said that the role of the Secretary General should not be split.

The internal election result being as close as it was, while being a good example of democracy at work within the party (although certain restrictions that had originally been placed on media coverage were not), also brings up concerns as to the near future. Ensuring that those who supported Delia quickly unite behind Borg will be of the utmost importance for the PN. The party already faces a monumental challenge of facing the Labour party, which has been undefeated in elections since 2013.

In addition, the 14% of tesserati who did not vote in the internal election is also not a small number. Borg will need to figure out why they opted not to vote for either contender, and will have to work to convince them to get behind him.

The PN knows that it doesn’t have much time to prepare for the next general election. Indeed there has been speculation that Prime Minister Robert Abela might call an early one, which could mean even far less time for the PN to now get organized.

Borg’s announcement that he will appoint a campaign manager shows that he understands that things have to move quickly. But the PN is facing an uphill battle.

In addition, any reforms Borg wants to bring will have to be done fast, and he had indicated that he wants some restructuring within the party. Time is not on Borg’s side.

A survey in MaltaToday in August showed that between Prime Minister Robert Abela and Alex Borg, 42.5% trusted Abela to lead the country against Borg’s 33.9%. That is not a small gap.

Not only will the PN need to ensure that those who did not support Borg unite behind him now, but it must also see how it can quickly gain the trust of those who have no trust in either party. On this latter point, the Labour Party will be doing all it can to extend its lead on the PN at the same time.

The PN holding a leadership race so close to a general election was a risk. If that risk will pay off, and to what extent, remains to be seen.