Nationalist Party leader Alex Borg announced that the office of the PN leader will move outside of its headquarters in Pieta to Valletta, to be closer to the people, in a move he described as the "next step to Castille."

Speaking on Sunday, on the eve of Independence Day, Borg presented the party's message under the slogan "A free country. A country that is not afraid".

Borg told a mass meeting at the Floriana Granaries that only the PN could steer Malta out of what he called a national crossroads.

The meeting was the first Independence mass meeting the party has held at the venue in eight years, according to secretary general Charles Bonello.

Borg also announced that the party would bring out a new statute, to go before the General Council within weeks.

Borg accused Prime Minister Robert Abela of treating the truth as a tool for clinging to power.

"If for the Prime Minister the truth is a means to play with in order to hold on to power, for me, the truth is fundamental if the nation is to truly enjoy its independence and every politician is to serve the national interest," he said.

He accused Abela of lying weeks ago about having been in contact with the family of Daphne Caruana Galizia, noting that Matthew Caruana Galizia had publicly denied that Abela had spoken to his father, Peter.

Borg also said Abela had promised compensation after the long summer power cuts but that none had been paid.

"This compensation to families and businesses is a right and not a favour, Prime Minister," he said, adding that he would demand that the promise be honoured.

He said Judge Wenzu Mintoff had alleged, in a letter confirming his account under oath, that Abela gave him different private reasons for not appointing him Chief Justice: first partisan considerations, then his age.

Borg said the Chamber of Commerce president had said this week that Abela gave the impression everything was going smoothly, while behind closed doors, the Finance Minister was warning of pressure on public finances.

He further said Abela had refused to publish his asset declarations, and that Labour's financial statements were still outstanding, unlike the PN's, which he said had been published and filed on time.

Borg paid tribute to the Caruana Galizia family, remembering a family that lost a mother and a wound the country still carries, and said that nine years on, the country was still waiting for justice and the truth.

He also had a message for journalists: their work had great value. Respect for a journalist, he said, did not depend on whether he agreed with them, and articles that attacked him did not mean he did not respect their authors.

"If you need to criticise me, criticise me," he said, promising to safeguard journalists even when he disagreed with them. "Whoever wants the people's trust must be ready to answer to the people," he added.

The PN leader said the party had not stopped working over the summer. It had announced a package of legislative proposals based on the recommendations of the public inquiry, made by three judges, which he said the Labour government had kept discarding.

Turning to his own party, Borg said the PN was the only political force able to offer an alternative to the government. "Let us understand that our country is at a crossroads," he said, appealing to those present and to disillusioned voters to join the party, the doors to which are open.

He said the PN wanted to be a catalyst for rebuilding the country.

He acknowledged that this year's early election, called by Abela, had gone the government's way.

"The people made their choice. We respect it," he said, promising to remain a serious Opposition that would recognise what was done well, propose solutions and insist that any politician who failed or obstructed must take responsibility.

Concluding, he said he had entered politics to end a situation in which the country is dominated by a few politicians who care only about themselves, and to offer hope.

"For this country, I am ready to give my all," he said.

Secretary General Charles Bonello said that the government was preventing institutions from working and called for a free public broadcaster, complaining of partisan news reporting and of presenters who he said pushed government propaganda.

He said the PN would take "the necessary steps" in the coming days to address what he described as a disadvantage to the party and the Opposition.

He also said the PN had made a profit of more than €100,000 last year, balancing its books for the first time in over 12 years without selling any party property, and announced a fundraising marathon on 11 October.

He said the new statute would introduce two deputy leaders, one for the party and one for the parliamentary group.

Deputy leader Alex Perici Calascione described the moment as "national, far more than political", saying everything heard in recent months, "witness after witness, evidence after evidence", had revealed exactly why the general election was called a year early.

Nobody in public life, he said, could think it was "business as usual" or that the episode would be swept under the carpet.

He said the country could bear no more of a situation in which what was absolutely condemnable was not only left uncondemned but rewarded, and the PN would stop it and never accept it.