Xgħajra councillor quits PN over alleged party favouritism

Xgħajra councillor Doris Borg has quit the Nationalist Party over alleged favouritism during the election campaign. 

Borg claimed she was discriminated against, and said her dignity "was trampled on" with the Nationalist Party failing to give her adequate media coverage compared to her district competitor. 

"We were two female candidates on the second district. It disappoints me to say that higher promotion, especially on party media, was given to the other candidate, while I was pushed aside and almost dropped by the wayside. My election result reflects this."

Doris Borg and Bernice Bonello were the only female PN candidates on the district. The councillor was eliminated in the 11th round of voting with less than 250 votes, while Bonello went on to make it to the last round of counting with only a few votes shy of the district quota.

Neither candidate received enough votes to be elected into parliament, but Bonello was eventually elected through the gender quota mechanism. 

"I believe in politics because it is a tool through which you can be close to the people and of help to the people," Borg said in a Facebook post. "This is what I've done throughout my life, especially in the last 10 years when I worked relentlessly even if it meant sacrifices from my side or from my family."

She said she accepted to contest the general election for the Nationalist Party "to take the next step forward and be of service to everyone". However, Borg claimed that certain events throughout the electoral campaign impacted her standing in the election.

Borg served as a PN councillor since 2013 and contested the second and fourth districts during the 2022 general election. Bernice Bonello contested the same two districts, while Julie Zahra contested the fourth. 

On the fourth district Borg was eliminated on the fifth count with only 46 votes. Bonello was eliminated on the 12th count with 369 votes, and Zahra was eliminated on the 17th count with 1,155 votes. 

Borg is not the first PN candidate to call it quits after this election. Former MP and shadow minister Jason Azzopardi resigned from the PN after failing to get re-elected, saying he was "deliberately isolated" by the party. 

Ivan Bartolo, another councillor who represented the PN, similarly resigned from politics two days after the general election.