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EXCLUSIVE: The PN’s Newest MEP Candidate Is Set To Be A ‘Faction-Bridging’ Women’s Rights Activist

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Roselyn Borg with Andrew Borg Cardona

The Nationalist Party’s international secretary Roselyn Borg Knight has confirmed her plan to contest the European Parliament elections next May.

“Yes, I am definitely considering it…it’s more of a yes,” Borg Knight said, when contacted by Lovin Malta. “I was approached more than once in recent months but I’ve been resisting it because it’s a big commitment and not a decision to be taken lightly. However, I’m very passionate about the party and I believe we need more valuable women in politics. Sometimes, when you’re called to do a job, you have to step up to the plate.”

Borg Knight, an employment lawyer and businesswoman, is a relatively new face to the PN, having contested the general election for the first time in 2017 on the ninth and tenth districts,winning 502 and 289 first-count votes respectively. After Adrian Delia’s election as PN leader a few months later, she was appointed international secretary.

Despite her loyalty to Delia, Borg Knight is also viewed as close to traditional PN voters who have grown sceptical of the party since the PN leader’s election. Indeed, she has worked on several lawsuits with vociferous lawyer and activist Andrew Borg Cardona, including a recent case which demanded whistleblower protection for former FIAU officer Jonathan Ferris.

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Indeed, her candidacy could well be a move by the PN to pre-empt a potential problem whereby critics of Delia could vote for one or two MEP candidates but not transfer their votes to others on the list who are seen as more loyal to the PN leader.

Asked whether she views herself as a unity candidate who can bridge the PN ‘factions’, Borg Knight said she works well with people of different viewpoints but doesn’t view the situation in the PN as one of warring factions.

“We all have one aim, which is that we all want what’s best for the Nationalist Party, but sometimes we don’t agree on the strategy,” she said. “I work with everyone, I talk to everyone and I hope I’m respected by a variety of people. At the end of the day, there’s goodness that comes out of unity. I know people have different opinions on Adrian Delia, but whoever forms part of the PN, at whatever level, has to work for the party.”

Borg Knight runs an employment law firm and a start-up recruitment agency and was recently given a license to operate a training academy in GDPR, human resources and employment law.

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Besides industrial relations, Borg Knight is also passionate about gender equality and is in favour of introducing temporary parliamentary gender quotas.

“I used to be against quotas, but I changed my mind when I realised things aren’t going to move without them,” she said. “As much as I’d like to say that women can make it to Parliament without quotas, research shows that it will take us very long to get there if we don’t introduce them as a temporary measure.”

“One must take the power of incumbency into consideration, and if Parliament mainly consists of male politicians, the cycle will never be broken. Once we break the cycle, women will keep getting elected without the need for quotas.”

She laughed off the argument that gender quotas will result in the election of incompetent women to Parliament, stating: “Don’t we have incompetent male MPs who were elected without quotas?”

If the PN’s structures officially approve her, Borg Knight will become the PN’s eighth MEP candidate – following in the footsteps of Roberta Metsola, David Casa, Francis Zammit Dimech, Frank Psaila, Peter Agius, Michael Briguglio, and Dione Borg.

READ NEXT: Women Are Flagging A Serious Problem In This Interview With Maltese Businessmen

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]

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