Alex Borg and Adrian Delia: Malta’s PN Unites in Surprise Kuntentizza Pact

New PN leader Alex Borg pledges to work ‘side by side’ with Adrian Delia

The Pietà headquarters of the Nationalist Party (PN) echoed with applause on Saturday evening as Alex Borg, a 42-year-old lawyer from Rabat, took the stage as the freshly elected leader and immediately pledged to govern “shoulder to shoulder” with his former rival Adrian Delia. In a country where political feuds are often measured in decades, the gesture felt almost cinematic—two men who traded blows across televised debates now promising the kind of unity Maltese families preach at Sunday lunch but rarely practice.

Locals sipping Kinnie outside the nearby yacht marina watched the live TikTok feed on their phones, some muttering “kemm hu sabih” at the rare sight of political détente. Within minutes, #BorgDeliaUnited was trending, vying for space with Eurovision memes and village festa reels. The symbolism was not lost on anyone: just three kilometres away, the fortified capital of Valletta still bears scars of the 1565 Great Siege; today’s siege, Maltese commentators joked, is the one against internal party fragmentation.

Borg’s speech, delivered in a mix of crisp Maltese and perfectly accented English, leaned heavily on the Maltese concept of “kuntentizza”—a blend of contentment and neighbourly harmony. “This is not about who won or lost,” Borg insisted, his voice cracking slightly. “This is about our children inheriting a movement that knows how to argue in the morning and share a plate of pastizzi by noon.” The crowd laughed, but the message cut deep in a nation where political colours often divide village cores and even wedding guest lists.

Delia, standing to Borg’s right, wore a pin-striped suit and the relieved smile of a man who had just survived a political hurricane. In 2020, Delia was ousted in a bruising internal vote only to bounce back as an MEP in 2022; his supporters, known as “Adrianisti,” still dominate several local councils in Gozo and the southern harbour towns. By handing Delia the symbolic role of “Senior Advisor on Strategy and Social Dialogue,” Borg effectively embraced the party’s rural, socially conservative wing without surrendering his own urban-progressive credentials. It’s the Maltese equivalent of mixing gbejniet with avocado toast—unexpected, yet somehow correct.

The practical impact of the partnership began rippling across the islands within hours. In Żebbuġ, PN councillor Maria Camilleri announced that a long-stalled community centre project—stuck between Delia-era blueprints and Borg-era sustainability rules—will restart next month using blended funding from both factions. Meanwhile, in Sliema, young professionals who deserted the PN after 2019 began re-following the party’s Instagram page, lured by a teaser video showing Borg and Delia jointly taste-testing ftira at the legendary Nenu the Artisan Baker. “Politics, Maltese style: carbs over grudges,” the caption read.

Yet beneath the bonhomie lies hard electoral maths. The Labour Party still enjoys a double-digit lead in most polls, and the European Parliament election is only twelve months away. Borg’s olive branch to Delia is therefore not mere magnanimity; it is a calculated move to prevent the hemorrhaging of 8,000 first-preference votes that leaked to smaller parties in 2022. Those votes, concentrated in the “Cottonera belt” and the northern agricultural villages of Mellieħa and St Paul’s Bay, could decide whether the PN secures a third MEP seat or cedes further ground.

Older voters queued outside the party club in Birkirkara on Sunday morning, trading theories like football cards. “Meta jitkellmu fl-istess leħen, irridu nagħtuha ċans,” insisted 73-year-old Ċensu Borg (no relation), who has voted PN since Dom Mintoff’s days. His granddaughter, 19-year-old Azzurra, was less impressed. “Unity is cute, but I want to hear their plan for rent caps and the environment,” she said, scrolling through TikTok dances filmed inside the PN club itself—an image unimaginable even five years ago.

As the sun set over the Grand Harbour, Borg and Delia walked side by side down the gangway of a vintage luzzu, its painted eye winking at the future. Whether this partnership sails smoothly or hits another Maltese storm remains to be seen. But for one balmy Mediterranean evening, the islands tasted a rare flavour: political reconciliation, served with a twist of lemon and a dash of hope.