Alex Borg is running to become Nationalist Party leader, competing against Adrian Delia. Read a profile about his rival here.
A 29-year-old lawyer from Gozo, former Mr World Malta, water polo player and gym-enthusiast-turned-politician, might just become the next leader of the opposition and maybe even the next prime minister.
And while different groups of people share many mixed feelings about him, few candidates and MPs in the Maltese political landscape have captured attention as swiftly as Alex Borg.
The young Gozitan MP will turn 30 next week, and he will likely be spending his birthday trying to persuade PN members that age is but a number, and that he is mature enough to be trusted with the helm of the ailing party. After all, Joseph Muscat was also in his early 30s when he took over Labour.
If elected, Borg will be the youngest of all PN and Labour leaders in the modern history of the two parties. The second-youngest would be Dom Mintoff, who rose to the Labour leadership at 33.
And if he wins the next general election, Borg would be the youngest prime minister in history.
A family with political roots
Borg hails from a family with political roots. He is the son of the late Tony Borg, who served as mayor of Fontana and as chief of staff to former popular Gozo minister Giovanna Debono.
He pursued his legal studies at the University of Malta, graduating and commencing his practice as a lawyer in 2019.
His political journey began to gain momentum in 2020, when he was elected to the MŻPN’s executive committee as the Gozo coordinator. This was followed by his election to the Nationalist Party’s Executive Committee in July 2021.
His rapid ascent culminated when he ran for his first general election in 2022 and was elected with an impressive 6,108 first-preference votes – almost as many as Labour’s frontman in Gozo, Clint Camilleri, with 6,458. He outpaced veteran Labour MP Anton Refalo (5,002) and incumbent and high-ranking PN veterans.
Speaking to Times of Malta days after the election, Borg, then just 26 years old, said he decided to contest in 2020 and started knocking on doors from day one.
“House visits made me realise what people really want from politicians – they simply want someone who listens to them,” he said.
“I would sit on their sofa, listen intently without interrupting them, and then explain to them what I stand for and how that might help them live better lives.”
Borg said most of them speak of their suffering and he has had a fair share of it after his father was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2013, and died six-and-a-half years later after a long battle with the illness.
“I try to be positive, even when I criticise, because people long for positivity,” Borg told Times of Malta after his election.
“They also appreciate it when you stay humble and close to them, when you meet them in public squares, bars and social events. And I want to remain like that – I want to remain the people’s politician.”
Alex with his father, Tony, who died after a long battle with cancer.
Shadow minister… and the controversy
Shortly after his election, Borg was also appointed shadow minister for Gozo and has been a vocal advocate for Gozitan issues, pushing for the sister island to receive adequate attention and resources.
But he also had his fair share of controversies.
Among the most recent were his statements concerning the Fort Chambray development in Gozo. Environment and heritage NGOs accused him of taking the side of big business, misleading people into thinking the new owners were bound to foot the bill for the fort’s restoration, when in fact it would be taxpayers who would ultimately pay for the multi-million project.
This led to the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life finding that Borg breached ethics, particularly after he refused to apologise for his misleading comments.
Borg’s alleged relationships with big business, particularly developers, have been a significant source of controversy. Critics argue that his political stances often align with the interests of powerful economic actors.
But his first clash with the party was a few months after he was elected when, along with another two PN MPs, he voted against a new IVF law that allows genetic testing before implantation. The rest of the opposition MPs had agreed to vote with the government on that law.
This year, Borg made waves on social media when he openly expressed admiration for US President Donald Trump, particularly for what he perceived as his “nationalist” approach to leadership.
He told Lovin Malta that while some of Trump’s decisions might seem unconventional to outsiders, many Americans view them as actions of a leader who genuinely loves his country and seeks to revitalise industries, such as manufacturing.
When he gave leadership a pass
Borg has already had a chance to contest for PN leadership since his election as an MP but he decided to give it a pass that time.
After the 2022 general election, when Bernard Grech was putting his leadership to the test, rumour had it that Borg could be rising through the ranks to contest him.
He had shut down those rumours, saying it was too early for him to make such a move and that the party needed to unite behind Grech at the time. But he did not rule out a future run.
The Gozitan MP’s rise continued in the following two years; however, when opinion polls began to show Gozo was starting to flip back to PN. And those polls were confirmed in the 2024 MEP election, when Gozo turned blue again.
Even in Malta Today’s opinion poll earlier this month, following which Grech resigned, the abysmal numbers in Malta were not reflected in Gozo. The PN seems to be holding onto its lead in the sister island.
Then came the internal poll, carried out among PN members two weeks ago, as soon as Roberta Metsola announced she would not run.
That poll underscored Borg’s growing influence, indicating him as the clear favourite to become the party’s new leader, leading other prominent figures like Adrian Delia and Franco Debono.
Borg also garnered public attention for his personal life. He is a former Mr World Malta titleholder (2020) and is in a relationship with renowned social media influencer Sarah Bajada.