Conrad Borg Manché said he has "absolutely no regrets" about leaving the Labour Party to contest the general election with the Nationalist Party, saying that the support he received from voters after "years of mistreatment" convinced him he had made the right decision.

After years of public clashes with Labour, former Labour Gżira mayor Borg Manché entered Parliament under the Nationalist Party banner at his first general election after first contesting the 2024 European Parliament and local council elections as an independent.

Elected from two districts, he told The Malta Independent on Sunday why he left Labour, why he believes the PN can return to government, and why he has unremorseful about switching sides.

'There was no going back'

Borg Manché said joining the PN was not a political calculation but the culmination of years during which he felt increasingly isolated within Labour and eventually concluded there was no future for him there.

"People already know my story with Labour. At the end of the day, I couldn't continue there. I wanted to know whether people genuinely followed me and appreciated the work I had done. That is why I contested as an independent (for MEP election). The fact that I obtained 6,000 votes nationwide, without carrying out any real campaign, showed me that there were people who genuinely followed and supported me. Those people made the effort to go out and vote for me because they wanted to," he said.

That result convinced him his political future no longer depended on one party.

Although he acknowledged that his political career began after being approached by former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat ahead of the 2013 local council elections, Borg Manché said his family had always been Nationalist and said that, in reality, the greater sacrifice had been contesting under Labour's banner.

"I had made the bigger sacrifice years earlier when I chose to contest with Labour. At the time, I believed the PN had disappointed many people. Joseph Muscat had approached me to contest the local council elections back then."

Politics, he said, had always interested him, but he lamented Malta's entrenched partisan culture.

"I never liked that because I have always believed that if you are serving people, you should serve everyone, not just half the population. Even as mayor, I never looked at people's political colours. I was everyone's mayor. If one person from one side and another from the opposite side came to me with the same request, I would help them in exactly the same way. I have never been partisan. In fact, I cannot stand partisanship. When people comment in a purely partisan way just to insult or attack someone, I see that as ignorance."

He added that some politicians actively encourage such division because it guarantees them a loyal following.

Contesting as an independent in 2024, he continued, confirmed that many people still appreciated the work he had carried out as mayor, after receiving the second-highest vote ever secured by an independent candidate.

"That gave me confidence that people appreciated what I was doing. Had nobody appreciated it, I would simply have quit and let others do as they wished, but I felt I still had a contribution to make."

He said Labour had abandoned its own principles and tried to humiliate him.

"It felt like being Cristiano Ronaldo but being placed in a team that nobody pays attention to. You can be the best player in the world, but on your own you achieve nothing."

'I have absolutely no regrets'

Borg Manché recalled that PN leader Alex Borg approached him before becoming party leader, and got along with him well.

Even before officially submitting his nomination, he attended several PN mass meetings where, despite speculation about his political future, he said he received "an incredible welcome."

"Ironically, the difficulties I went through while I was with Labour were later used against me. They never appreciated anything I had done or understood what I had gone through. The PN approached me and welcomed me incredibly warmly."

He said the reception convinced him he had made the right decision.

"I was genuinely taken aback. When you are welcomed like that, you realise you made the right decision. I have absolutely no regrets about making the move," he said.

He added that people criticising him should ask themselves whether they would react differently if one of their own family members had gone through the same experience.

"We have become too individualistic. If something does not affect us or our children, we simply ignore it. That should not be the case. We should have empathy for one another. The genuine Labour supporters know I have a point, although I understand why they did not want me joining the PN."

Remaining independent, he argued, would never have allowed him to bring about meaningful change.

"As an independent in this country, you achieve very little. I wanted to make a real contribution. If I had remained independent, perhaps I would have obtained a thousand votes from one district and another thousand from the other, but it would have been a waste of energy and a waste of time. In our country, if you genuinely want to make a difference, you need to belong to one of the major parties."

He said the problem lay with Labour's leadership rather than its supporters.

"I was never involved in any inner circles. I simply did my work as mayor. I hardly ever spoke to senior figures. I certainly was not involved in decision-making because, had I been, I am convinced certain laws would never have passed, such as the cannabis law."

'I could hardly believe it'

Borg Manché admitted he never expected to be elected from two districts at his first general election, recalling that he "could hardly believe it" when a friend phoned him from the Counting Hall to say he had secured election from the fifth district while also performing strongly on the 10th.

"I was very surprised, but deep down I kept telling myself that it was impossible for people not to appreciate what I had done. Otherwise, what exactly do they want from politicians? I had already been tried and tested. I had stood up against an entire governing party. The easy option would have been to remain quiet, accept a good government job like others do, earn €100,000 a year and simply praise whatever the government was doing. Instead, I did exactly the opposite."

He said what surprised him most was that he had barely campaigned on the districts from which he was elected, attending only two activities on the fifth district, visiting one band club and carrying out a single house visit.

"One house visit in an entire district, yet people still voted for me. They did not say, 'He never promised me anything, so I won't vote for him.' I think that is something very positive. I never promised anyone anything. I spoke to relatively few people. Instead, people observed what was happening."

'The gap is not impossible to close'

Borg Manché said many voters, including Labour supporters, showed sympathy with him while those who had known him for years also understood that several allegations made against him during the campaign did not reflect reality.

"They probably asked themselves how someone who had always tried to do good could suddenly become the target of such attacks. I genuinely believe many Labour supporters voted for me. Even on the 10th district there were Labour supporters acting as canvassers on my behalf. I never recruited them; they simply started calling people because they felt what had happened to me was unfair. People still have empathy."

He insisted he had always tried to do things properly and said that, even after explaining the personal matters that became public, "they continued using it against me because their intention was never to establish the truth."

Asked whether his prominent role during the campaign gave him an advantage over other first-time PN candidates, Borg Manché rejected the suggestion.

"I believe I was in fact at a disadvantage because I didn't have the opportunity to carry out house visits and campaign in the traditional way."

He said appearing in the Broadcasting Authority debates was the party's decision rather than his own and admitted he had little time to prepare after submitting his nomination at the last minute.

"I hadn't been following the campaign in detail, including all the proposals being put forward, unlike the other candidates, who had been preparing for months. I had my children and other commitments, so it was quite difficult for me to catch up and familiarise myself with all the policies."

Despite that, he believes his presence helped inject enthusiasm into the party.

"I believe I had an effect because whenever I attended house meetings or mass meetings, I could sense enthusiasm among the people. There was genuine enthusiasm. I hadn't been with the PN during the previous three elections, but people told me there was renewed enthusiasm and that I had contributed significantly to it. I was happy about that because a 40,000-vote gap between the two parties was unhealthy for the country."

Despite Labour securing a fourth consecutive victory, Borg Manché said the election marked the beginning of the PN's recovery.

"If you look at the numbers realistically, the gap is not impossible to overcome. There is a great deal of work to do, but if you divide the 21,000 votes across the 13 districts and then across each locality, you're talking about hundreds of votes in every locality. That is not impossible to recover by the next election. I am very confident. I think we have an excellent parliamentary group. I've now met all of them. They are genuine people and I believe this country needs change."

He pointed to the swing registered across every district as evidence that the party was already moving in the right direction.

"The PN increased its vote in every district, while Labour lost votes in almost every district. That swing is there."

Borg Manché said the party must continue rebuilding trust while remaining close to people.

"I believe the mistakes made between 2008 and 2013 created a great deal of negativity which we still need to overcome."

At the same time, he said that Labour had become complacent after more than a decade in government.

"I think many within Labour have become too arrogant. That was clear from the way they treated me, particularly during the campaign and the debates. They did everything possible to force me out, and eventually I left. Why shouldn't I have the right to join the other side? I never took anything from them. From the moment Robert Abela became Prime Minister, all they did was make my life difficult."

He referred to the controversy surrounding the proposed relocation of a petrol station close to the Garden of the Council of Europe in Gżira, describing it as a turning point in his relationship with the party.

"They wanted that project so badly that they tried everything possible to wear me down. Their intention was to exhaust me so they could proceed with the project. Instead of talking about that, they tried to distract attention with other issues, such as Manoel Island. But they desperately wanted that petrol station. I resisted."

Looking back on his political journey, Borg Manché said he remained convinced that leaving Labour had been the right decision.

"I have absolutely no regrets," he said. "If anything, I should have made the move earlier."