As per its statute, the Nationalist Party will be confirming its leader in the coming days. It is an important step in the post-electoral process, and one that will no doubt define the next five years.   

That is why this is no time to start from scratch. No time to plunge into another sea of doubt. It is time to learn from our past mistakes, regroup, and move forward.

That is why, I wish to express my full support for Alex Borg, as he is reconfirmed leader of the Nationalist Party and the Opposition.

I do not wish to waste this article looking back, but it is very important to reflect on the long way we have come. Until not too long ago, less than a year if you think about it, the Nationalist Party had been nearly written off. The narrative was that the gap between the two main parties had become unbridgeable, and that we were locked into a cycle of decline with no way out. Alex Borg proved that narrative wrong.

He did not do this alone, naturally, but it was his leadership that brought together the different voices, energies and experiences within our party and gave them a common direction.

It was his leadership that restored the confidence of supporters who had grown tired and disillusioned, and that convinced people who had never previously considered voting for the PN, to take a second look at what the Nationalist Party stands for.

While we did not register the result we worked so hard for, the numbers offer hope, based on tangible inroads. For the first time since 2013, the PN has shown true signs of energy and vision, which resulted in cutting the electoral deficit that had been building up over the years, nearly by half.

This is exactly why now is not the time to start from scratch. We have come too far, and built too much, to go back to the drawing board. Confirming Alex Borg as leader is a statement that recognises the progress made, and that we are ready to build upwards, rather than trying to start from scratch.

This is the time to regroup around our strengths. We have a leader who has shown he can unite the different hues of the party, who stayed focused on policy and vision, and on genuine contact with the electorate.

We have a leader whose own personal result, the most successful candidate on all ballots, ahead even of the Prime Minister, speaks to a popularity and a new way of doing politics that is clearly resonating with the Maltese and Gozitan people.

Confirming Alex Borg means giving the PN the needed stability to keep focus on the issues that matter, and that affect our families' standard of living.

Few people are interested in internal political theatrics. Most people are only interested in solutions, and a united Opposition that can offer a real, and credible alternative way of doing things.

I support Alex Borg because he has already shown the courage to take on a near-impossible task and the discipline to see it through. Above all, I support him because he understands that this mission belongs to all of us and is bigger than any single individual.

This is the time to learn from our own mistakes, and move on.