The PN’s two frontrunners for party leader, Adrian Delia and Alex Borg, have privately agreed not to contest against each other, Times of Malta can confirm.

Sources close to the two Nationalist Party MPs said Delia and Borg have agreed that one will back the other in an eventual run to take over the Opposition party. 

But they have yet to agree on which of the two will launch that bid.

“What they haven’t agreed is who of the two will contest for the PN leadership," PN sources said. "But either way, if either of them eventually becomes leader, the other will be given prominence in the party."

Delia, a former PN leader, and Borg, a popular Gozitan MP, met on Friday at the Corinthia Hotel in Attard to discuss the issue at hand. 

The pair even posted a photo of their meeting on Facebook, both captioning it "Having a word with a friend". 

While the two have agreed that rival leadership bids would hurt both their chances, they agreed to meet again soon to decide which of them will run for party leadership. 

The two men are the two favourites to succeed outgoing leader Bernard Grech, according to a leaked internal poll released by Times of Malta earlier this week. 

Borg had the backing of 27.5 per cent of respondents in the poll versus the 19.3 per cent registered by Delia. Former MP Franco Debono came in third with 8.8 per cent. 

Debono also pledged to explore a leadership bid following that poll, and on Friday he told his Facebook followers that he had a wonderful time meeting councillors and party members this week and that he looks forward to more of these meetings on Saturday.

No candidate has officially launched a leadership bid, with MEP Roberta Metsola's decision not to run in favour of completing her term as European Parliament president throwing the race wide open.   

Borg rose to political prominence in the years before the last general election and is considered to be close to Delia, with both coming from the party's conservative branch. The two have often been photographed together and Delia has acted as a mentor to the Gozitan MP.

Delia was PN leader between 2017 and 2020, presiding over three tumultuous years that came to a head when 17 of the party's MPs openly called for his removal and tried, unsuccessfully, to have him removed as Opposition leader.

A subsequent leadership election saw him lose the job to Bernard Grech.

However, sources within the PN say Delia’s relationship with those who ousted him five years ago has improved.

“Delia is more popular with the rest of the Nationalist MPs than Alex Borg,” one MP told Times of Malta. That sentiment was shared by many within the PN parliamentary group.

Borg, on the other hand, is believed to be more popular among PN grassroots members, who will hold a lot of sway in determining the party's next leader as the party leader must be elected by a vote among the party membership.