The PN’s biggest opponent since 2013 has not been Labour.It has been itself.Labour helped, obviously. It built one of the most effective political machines Malta has seen in decades, absorbed large parts of the centre, and developed an almost indecent talent for turning government into campaign material. But the PN’s collapse was never only about Labour’s strength. It was also about its own inability to stop behaving like a party more interested in surviving itself than defeating its opponent.For years, internal politics took precedence over national relevance. Factions fought for control of a shrinking party and then acted surprised when voters stopped taking it seriously.That may now be changing.Not fully. Not magically. The PN has not suddenly become a disciplined, modern political machine. But under Alex Borg, it does feel steadier. There is at least a growing recognition that controlling the party in Opposition is a very small prize. The point is not to own the machinery. The point is to make it capable of winning again.That shift does not win elections.But it changes the atmosphere.And atmosphere matters.Borg’s advantage is that he does not carry the same exhaustion. He feels newer, less tied to the decisions that got the party here in the first place. He can speak about renewal without immediately triggering memories of decline.That does not make him ready for Castille.But it does make him viable.Because before the PN can convince the country that it should govern, it has to convince the country that it has stopped actively harming itself.Borg appears to have crossed that first threshold.The second advantage is more delicate.For the first time in years, a PN leader may be able to operate without the spectre of Roberta Metsola hanging over the party.Adrian Delia never really escaped it. Bernard Grech didn’t either. Both led the PN while a large part of the party — and the country — treated them as temporary arrangements. Placeholders holding the position until the real leader returned from Brussels to restore credibility.That was always corrosive.You cannot build authority when everyone assumes it belongs to someone else.Metsola’s weight cannot be denied. It is enough to look at the last European Parliament election, where she effectively carried the PN to its best electoral performance of the decade. She gave the party stature, reach, and a sense that it could still operate at scale.But politics is not only about potential. It is about choices.And Metsola has made hers.She has chosen Europe over Malta, which is understandable. The European Parliament presidency is not a role you walk away from lightly. But more significantly, when it mattered most, she chose to echo Israeli talking points — even when those positions were clearly not in Europe’s interest, let alone Malta’s.At a moment when many expected clarity, she defaulted to institutional caution. At a moment when Europe needed independence, she aligned with its weakest instincts.For a politician once seen as the PN’s future, that shift has been noticed.And it has cost her.Whether she still harbours local political ambitions only she can say. But she no longer feels like an imminent answer. She is no longer the inevitable return.That gives Borg space.Not necessarily enough space to win, but enough to stop being measured against a fantasy.And that matters because the PN does not just need votes.It needs psychological release.It needs to stop waiting for rescue.The third advantage is less obvious, but potentially more important.History is not entirely on Labour’s side.Yes, Labour may be attempting to break Malta’s traditional political cycle. Yes, it is seeking a level of dominance that stretches beyond the usual limits of public tolerance. And yes, the polls still place it ahead.But Malta has seen versions of this before.In 2008, the country was tired of the PN. It had been in power too long. The fatigue was real, the arrogance visible, the energy gone.And yet voters still chose the PN.Not because they were enthusiastic.But because they could not quite accept Alfred Sant.That distinction matters.Governments do not always survive because they are loved.Sometimes they survive because the alternative has not yet become acceptable.Labour benefited from the same dynamic against Bernard Grech. It was not that the country felt no anger — it did. But anger is not enough. Voters need somewhere to put it.Grech never became that place.He did not feel like a Prime Minister-in-waiting. He felt like an Opposition leader performing the role.And for Labour, that was enough.The question now is whether Borg changes that equation.He may not. It is too early to say.But the risk for Labour is clear.A party can survive public frustration for a long time when the Opposition is unacceptable. But once the Opposition becomes acceptable, even partially, the anger that had nowhere to go can move quickly.That is why calling the election now makes sense for Abela.It is not just about winning.It is about preventing acceptability from turning into momentum.Borg does not need to convince everyone. He only needs to convince enough voters that the PN is no longer an absurd option.That is the first crack.And in politics, cracks matter.Because Labour’s dominance has not just been about winning. It has been about winning overwhelmingly. The margin became part of the strategy. The size of the victory reinforced the idea that the result was inevitable.That is what made Labour feel untouchable.Not just government.Gravity.The PN’s task, therefore, may not be to win outright. That remains a very high bar. Its first task is to break that psychology.If it can make the election feel competitive — if it can meaningfully reduce the gap — then things can change faster than expected.Because Labour’s aura depends on scale.A narrower victory would still be a victory. It would still mean five more years in government. But it would end the sense that Labour can simply roll over the country every election cycle and call it a mandate.It would show movement.It would show that fatigue is no longer contained.And it would show the PN that the long post-2013 decline may finally have reached its floor.That is why the odds being stacked against Borg can also work in his favour.Expectations are low. Nobody is asking him to produce a miracle. Labour has not collapsed. The PN has not been reborn overnight.But that creates space for a different kind of success.A credible defeat.A narrowed gap.A campaign that makes people look again.For a party that has spent more than a decade losing not just elections but relevance, that would not be nothing.It would be the beginning of something else.The PN still has real weaknesses. It lacks a fully convincing national project and still needs to explain what it would actually do differently. Borg’s freshness helps, but it does not replace substance.Labour will test that relentlessly. It will question his experience, his clarity, and whether there is anything solid behind the image.Because Labour does not need voters to love it.It only needs them to doubt the alternative enough to stay where they are.The PN’s task is simpler — but still difficult. It does not need to prove Borg is already the answer. It needs to convince enough people that he is no longer the wrong one.But Labour is not as solid as it looks.Behind the discipline and messaging are tensions, competing interests, and a movement that has spent over a decade balancing incompatible priorities: growth and quality of life, expansion and control, delivery and sustainability.That balancing act becomes harder over time. Not necessarily enough to break.But enough to strain.For the first time in a long while, this election is not testing whether Labour wins. It is testing whether it can still make winning look inevitable.Labour will likely win.But the real question is whether it still looks untouchable when it does. Because in Malta, dominance has never just been about winning.It has been about winning big. If that starts to fade, things can shift quickly.Labour can win and still emerge weaker.The PN can lose and still emerge relevant.And in an election that feels low on emotion and high on routine, that may be the result that matters most.•