Nationalist Party leader Alex Borg told PN supporters and members on Sunday morning to not take recent survey results for granted following optimistic results for the Opposition.

During a PN political activity on Sunday, Alex Borg and party Secretary General Charles Bonello told party loyalists to remain grounded as it looks like the PN has already gained significant ground on the Labour Party in Borg’s first month in charge of the major party.

A Times of Malta survey was published just a few hours before this PN activity commenced. According to its results, Labour holds a 5% advantage over the Nationalist Party – the equivalent of a 15,000-vote margin. Borg’s predecessor, Bernard Grech, had resigned from the PN’s top leadership role in June a day after a MaltaToday survey indicated a 40,000-vote deficit, which is around the same discrepancy observed in the last three general elections.

At the end of Sunday’s political activity, Borg stated that while these surveys give the PN great energy, it also places major responsibility on its shoulders.

“People outside are seeing us from a different lens and are wondering whether we can lead the country in the right direction. We will be judged on every step we take, we have great responsibility on our shoulders, so we must be very careful with every decision we make,” Borg warned.

The new Opposition leader also remarked that his party and its members must remain focused on their own work, and “forget” about the Labour Party and Prime Minister Robert Abela. In this regard, he commented that over the past month, the Labour Party and the Prime Minister “haven’t fulfilled any measures” as they were “only focused on attacking the Nationalist Party, day and night.”

Borg criticised that while around 90,000 people in the Maltese islands are at risk of poverty and social exclusion today, instead of addressing these issues, Prime Minister Abela recently resorted to attacking Borg over him wearing a Donald Trump costume for carnival earlier this year, before he was PN leader. Abela had brought this up earlier this week after being questioned about Ian Borg’s decision to nominate US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Borg, visibly content, added that many youths were in attendance, showing that his party “has become the natural home for youths.”

PN Secretary General Charles Bonello also shared a few words to conclude this political activity and used his time to call upon supporters to be generous during the PN’s fundraising marathon later on in the day.

“We must ensure that the first [fundraising] marathon under Alex Borg is successful,” Bonello said.

He said that the PN can only continue fulfilling its work and spreading its message if the party has adequate finances. He implied that with recent optimistic opinion polls, the general public would like the Nationalist Party to continue spreading its message for a better Malta as well.

With an eye towards the pending next general election, Bonello appealed for party followers to continue having faith in the party and its mission to get elected to government.

“While the road isn’t difficult, it is not impossible. We must believe that we can win the next general election and not believe attacks that we are divided,” Bonello stated.

The PN Secretary General called for the party to ignore political attacks and for people to continue supporting Alex Borg and the rest of the political party.

“My plea is this: let’s be united under Alex Borg to have a government that the people deserve in the coming months,” Bonello said.

During the political activity itself, Borg emphasised that the Maltese islands’ sustained population increases are “one of the greatest challenges our country is facing.” He said that “people are not waiting for populist measures,” but measures that can contribute to a better, more comfortable life.

He added that the Labour government’s economic vision by population increase was not planned diligently.

“I am not saying that they didn’t give us services in certain sectors, but the Labour Party’s economic vision was only based on this: ‘let’s increase the population and see what happens’,” Borg said.

The PN leader called for the PL government to conduct a labour market study for experts to see where the country stands today and know certain information such as which sectors depend mostly on foreigners, and how many foreigners are here in Malta, through regular or irregular means. He said that through a labour market study, the country will be positioned to know how it may address the shortcomings in its systems nowadays, “which have been deteriorating for years.”

During this event, Borg highlighted that the government is not investing enough in Malta’s sister island of Gozo. In reference to the justice sector, he noted that Gozitans are still in need of a new courthouse in Gozo to improve their access to justice, yet this plea was not even mentioned in recent budgets.

He also mentioned the need for a new fleet of Gozo Channel ships. Borg observed that while past PN administrations gave the country three ships, which are now over 20 years old, the PL government only provided one: “the Nikolaos, a second-hand of second-hand ships.” He lamented that this particular Gozo Channel ship has no accessibility features for wheelchair users or mothers with baby strollers, and that the government has on its desk a report submitted by PN MEP Peter Agius that details how EU funds can be utilised to invest in a new, ecological fleet to boost connectivity between Malta and Gozo.

With the subject of traffic and public transport entering the discussion, Borg stated that the two major parties must come together and a “holistic mass transportation plan for the country.” He said that during his recent meeting with the Prime Minister at PN’s headquarters a couple days prior, he mentioned this and added that the “billboards and propaganda” aren’t as important.

Borg believes that this is the only way politicians can offer a solution for the country’s traffic issue, though warned that this process could take longer than the span of a single legislature.

Speaking about tourism, Borg pitched that Valletta should be marketed separately from VisitMalta as the unique capital it is in its own right. He believes that “if we separate Valletta and promote its own identity, history, and character, I think we can attract quality tourists who will be in harmony with the city. This will promote quality over quantity.”