Gibraltar elections

[Devonian]

There will be a by-election for the Gibraltar Parliament on 4 July  following the death of Government Minister Charles Bruzon.

www.parliament.gi/by-election-2013/by-election-2013-forms-2

[Devonian]

Statement of Person's nominated

CRUZ Nicholas Peter 1/0201 Europlaza, Harbour Views Road Barrister (PDP)
ISOLA Albert Joseph 503 Portland House, Glacis Road Barrister (GSLP/Liberal)
NAHON Marlene Dinah Esther 02 Gardiner’s Road Journalist (GSD)
ZAMMIT Bryan Albert 13 Laburnum Lodge, Montagu Gardens Businessman (Independent)
The persons whose name no entry is made have been and stand validly nominated.
Dated this 14th day of June 2013.
Melvyn L Farrell
RETURNING OFFICER

 
vox.gi/local/7418-persons-nominated-for-the-election-of-one-member-to-serve-in-the-parliament.html

[No Offence Alan]

Jun 17, 2013 21:27:58 GMT @boogieeck said:

two barristers and an Independent. I'll be voting GSD.

For a journalist ??

[Devonian]

For anyone who's interested

www.gbc.gi/news/1907/gbc-announces-by-election-coverage

GBC has announced its coverage plans for next month's by-election. Programmes will start on Monday 1st July, three days before polling day.  Each of the four candidates will have one election broadcast on television and one on radio.

There'll be a Question and Answer Programme on each, in which the candidates willindividually answer telephone and email questions from the public.  Radio and television will each host a live debate between the four candidates.  The radio debate will be broadcast on Monday the 1st, while the TV debate is the last campaign programme and will be aired on Wednesday 3rd July. The following night, GBC will provide live coverage of the Count from the John Mackintosh Hall  as from 10.30, until the result is announced. The four candidates are Marlene Nahon representing the GSD, Albert Isola for the GSLP, Nick Cruz of the PDP and Independentcandidate, Bryan Zammit.

[Devonian]

Jun 17, 2013 21:27:58 GMT @boogieeck said:

two barristers and an Independent. I'll be voting GSD.

It seems that the GSD candidate also thinks this is a selling point. On her campaign website she says

I also believe that our parliament is in desperate need of diversity with the inclusion of something other than the overwhelming number of lawyers representing parties on both sides

www.votemarlene.com/

Her main rival, the GSLP candidate, disagrees however. On his campaign website he reproduces an interview he has done where he makes the following statement

AI: There is no doubt in my mind that lawyers have an advantage in entering the political arena. Our training unquestionably helps in the challenges that politicians meet on a regular basis as our work requires certain skills that are commonly needed in the political world. It is interesting to see that Marlene’s campaign team are a troop of lawyers.

deliveringthechange.com/

[Devonian]

Jun 21, 2013 8:42:27 GMT @trident said:

I wonder when was the last time that they held a byelection in Gib?

The last by-election in Gibraltar was in 1999. I've done a little searching for info about that election and found the following on the archive of the Panorama newspaper of Gibraltar
www.panorama.gi/menu.htm

11/01/99

Bye-elections[sic], by the way...

Bye-elections in Gibraltar are few and far between. The last was in 1991, after Peter Montegriffo had resigned at a time, ironically, when the newly-born GSD was on a clear uptrend.

Under the heading THE PARTY IS OVER FOR MONTEGRIFFO, Joe Garcia wrote at the time: "Peter Montegriffo picked up a PANORAMA on 14 January and saw his dream come true. His GSD party had finally overtaken the AACR in an opinion poll. Armed with a copy of the paper, he met Peter Caruana, his No.2, that same afternoon. It was a day to remember. He was sure to be the next leader of the opposition."

Yet, he was to resign shortly thereafter. That is political history. At first Mr. Caruana had no intention of taking over the party. He later did, and entered the House of Assembly winning the bye-election. He showed courage in taking over a party in its infancy with an uncertain future after the resignation of its leader.

Out of an electorate of 17,538, only 4553 people bothered to vote, that is, 26%.

When Govt almost lost seat

There was far more voting at the bye-election in the mid-1960s when the AACR, then in power, almost lost the seat left vacant by minister of education Mary Chiappe, who had resigned.

This bye-election secured a high turnout by nearly 56%. The late Emilio Alvarez kept the seat for the then governing AACR by beating Bob Peliza by just 145 votes - a bye-election that demonstrated the IWBP to be on the ascendancy. By 1969, they had gained power in an alliance.

Bye-election for Opposition seat

The bye-election on 4 February is for an opposition seat. The Government does not have to contest it as its majority is not threatened in any way whatever the result.

However, if it were to stand and lose - politics being what it is - it would be a negative factor it could do without in the run-up to the far more important General Election next year.

Political parties decide

The GSLP and the Liberals are to announce this week their intentions over the bye-election, with nominations due not later than Thursday.

The AACR has said that they will not fight the election if a candidate acceptable to the opposition as a whole can be found, with Dr. Garcia being singled out.

If a common candidate is found, and no one else stands, the bye-election would not be contested.

18/01/99

The two main opposition parties in Gibraltar, the Socialists and the Liberals, are to contest together the bye-election, that was the news that added sparkled to the late surge of candidates - from what had looked like an uncontested election to four standing for one seat.

Liberal leader Dr. Joseph Garcia stands for election as the Liberal/ GSLP candidate to fill the seat in the House of Assembly left vacant by the death last month of the GSLP's Robert Mor.

The two parties see the bye-election on 4th February as a springboard for further cooperation. "The objective of coordinating on a range of external and domestic policy issues, will be to provide a platform to contest the next general elections together on a joint manifesto and joint candidature," said a joint statement by the two parties.

While working together on a common front, the two parties are to maintain their separate structures.

The three other candidates standing for election on 4th February: John Piris, Deputy Leader of the new 'Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights'; Peter Cabezutto, a businessman, standing as an independent socialist and Peter Cumming who seeks an accommodation with Spain.

05/02/99

Doctor Joseph Garcia, leader of the 'Liberal Party of Gibraltar,' has won the bye-election for the 'House of Assembly' with 52 per cent of the votes, it was officially announced early this morning.

He fills a seat left vacant last December by the death of a member of the 'Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party'. Aged 32, Garcia is Gibraltar's youngest political leader. He has a UK university doctorate on Gibraltar’s political development and is the author of the book 'Gibraltar: The Making of a People.'

There was a good turnout for a bye-election, with 49 per cent of the 18,297 electorate casting their vote. This compares with only 26 per cent in the previous bye-election in 1991.

Four candidates contested the election, with Independent Peter Cumming coming second with 31 per cent of the votes, Independent Socialist Peter Cabezutto 13 per cent and Deputy Leader of the 'Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights' John Piris 4 per cent.

Garcia stood for election as joint candidate for the 'Liberal Party and the 'Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party' of Opposition Leader Joe Bossano. The ruling 'Gibraltar Social Democrats' led by Chief Minister Peter Caruana did not present a candidate. They remain in power as the election was for a seat left vacant in the opposition benches in the legislative assembly.

 Both the Liberals and the Socialists see the win as cementing their electoral alliance and paving the way to also contest together the next general election due next year.

[AdminSTB]

10-vote multi-member FPTP for 17 seats. Possibly the worst electoral system EVER.

[greatkingrat]

Be fair, it could be 17-vote multi-member FPTP for 17 seats!

[iainbhx]

Jun 23, 2013 9:51:24 GMT AdminSTB said:

10-vote multi-member FPTP for 17 seats. Possibly the worst electoral system EVER.

You'd have a long way to got to beat the old Prussian three-class franchise.

Those eligible to vote were men aged over 24, divided by their direct tax revenue into three classes. These three classes were calculated according to how much tax one paid, by dividing the entire range of taxes into thirds. The first class ranged from the highest tax payer on down until one-third of total tax revenue was reached; the second for those with a lower income, down until another one-third of total tax revenue was reached; the third, finally, for the bottom third of tax payers. While the latter were generally poor people paying little to no taxes individually, it could happen that a well-to-do person living in a particularly rich tax district ended up in the third class, which happened to chancellor Bernhard von Bülow in 1903.

Voting took place in public, orally; there was no secret ballot. It was also indirect; representatives known as electors (Wahlmänner) were voted for, each class electing a third of all the electors. The classes of course contained widely differing numbers of people, even though the number of electors was the same for each one: in 1849 the first class constituted 4.7% of the population, the second class 12.7% and the third class 82.6%. This distribution meant that a first-class vote had 17.5 times the value of a third-class vote. A three-class franchise system was also used for local elections in parts of Prussia, one result of which was that the industrialist Alfred Krupp was the only person able to vote for the electors in the first class in Essen.

[Devonian]

Jun 23, 2013 9:51:24 GMT AdminSTB said:

10-vote multi-member FPTP for 17 seats. Possibly the worst electoral system EVER.

I have to say it doesn't seem like an ideal system does it.

It seems Gibraltar has been looking into electoral reform. Last year a "Commission on Democratic and Political Reform" was appointed and it reported this January. Although it recommends a number of reforms it says that the majority view of the commission was to keep the present system. A minority report was however included at the end which advocated reforming the voting system to one which combines single member FPTP with PR.

The full report is here

www.parliament.gi/images/report_to_parliament/report_to_parliament_on_democratic_and_parliamentary_reform.pdf

[Devonian]

It seems that election posters have been defaced

The Returning Officer has reiterated to the public that “under section 46 of the Parliament Act any person who prior to the declaration of results of the poll wilfully destroys, defaces, tears, adds to, alters, wholly or partly obliterates or otherwise mutilates or renders illegible a bill, placard or poster having reference to an election is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of £100.”

www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=29788

[Deleted]

Jun 23, 2013 10:39:49 GMT iainbhx said:

Jun 23, 2013 9:51:24 GMT AdminSTB said:

10-vote multi-member FPTP for 17 seats. Possibly the worst electoral system EVER.

You'd have a long way to got to beat the old Prussian three-class franchise.

Those eligible to vote were men aged over 24, divided by their direct tax revenue into three classes. These three classes were calculated according to how much tax one paid, by dividing the entire range of taxes into thirds. The first class ranged from the highest tax payer on down until one-third of total tax revenue was reached; the second for those with a lower income, down until another one-third of total tax revenue was reached; the third, finally, for the bottom third of tax payers. While the latter were generally poor people paying little to no taxes individually, it could happen that a well-to-do person living in a particularly rich tax district ended up in the third class, which happened to chancellor Bernhard von Bülow in 1903.

Voting took place in public, orally; there was no secret ballot. It was also indirect; representatives known as electors (Wahlmänner) were voted for, each class electing a third of all the electors. The classes of course contained widely differing numbers of people, even though the number of electors was the same for each one: in 1849 the first class constituted 4.7% of the population, the second class 12.7% and the third class 82.6%. This distribution meant that a first-class vote had 17.5 times the value of a third-class vote. A three-class franchise system was also used for local elections in parts of Prussia, one result of which was that the industrialist Alfred Krupp was the only person able to vote for the electors in the first class in Essen.

Maybe the tories should adopt the prussian system.

[Devonian]

Opinion poll for the by election

Albert Isola    GSLP/Liberal         - 41.4%
Marlene Nahon    GSD                - 36.5%
Bryan Zammit    Independent     - 11.9%
Nick Cruz    PDP                          - 8.2%

www.gbc.gi/news/1926/gbc-poll-places-isola-narrowly-ahead-of-nahon

[Devonian]

Interviews with all the candidates

Albert Isola of the ruling GSLP


Marlene Nahon of the opposition GSD (also the daughter of a previous Gibraltar Prime Minister the late Sir Joshua Hassan)


Nick Cruz of the PDP which is not represented in parliament at present


And local businessman Bryan Zammit who wants to abolish political parties in Gibraltar

[Deleted]

Jun 26, 2013 8:21:28 GMT Devonian said:

Opinion poll for the by election

Albert Isola    GSLP/Liberal         - 41.4%
Marlene Nahon    GSD                - 36.5%
Bryan Zammit    Independent     - 11.9%
Nick Cruz    PDP                          - 8.2%

www.gbc.gi/news/1926/gbc-poll-places-isola-narrowly-ahead-of-nahon

Strange how all three major parties are pretty left wing.

[Sibboleth]

It's an example of sinistrisme. It's called that because it's a very scary process.

[Devonian]

Election Broadcasts from

Bryan Zammit


Marlene Nahon

[Devonian]

Election Broadcasts from

Albert Isola


Nick Cruz

[Devonian]

Turnout 46.34%  - 10,034 votes


Exit poll indicates win for Albert Isola
Albert Isola 51.6%
Marlene Nahon  37.9%
Nick Cruz  7.9%
Bryan Zammit  2.5%

[Devonian]

Final result

Number of votes cast 10,033

Albert Isola   -       GSLP   4,899  49.8%
Marlene Nahon  - GSD     3,927  40.0%
Nick Cruz       -      PDP        688    7.0%
Bryan Zammit  -   Ind.         315    3.2%

Spoilt and Blank Ballots  204

Albert Isola will now be brought in as a new member of the Cabinet (under the Gibraltar electoral system all Government MPs are appointed to the cabinet - there are no backbenchers).

Fabian Picardo the Prime Minister is saying that he is happy that the Government has increased its margin of victory in comparison to the general election of 2011.

Nick Cruz is indicating that the PDP is likely to be wound up. The Gibraltar electoral system is one that strongly excludes third parties from being elected (and of course they have no local authorities). At 7.0% the PDP have no prospect of getting any electoral representation.

Bryan Zammit did very badly. People were possibly put off by his idea of building a nuclear power plant in Gibraltar