2015 Gibraltar general election
![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
17 seats to the Gibraltar Parliament 9 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Gibraltar general election of 2015 to elect all 17 members to the 3rd Gibraltar Parliament took place on Thursday, 26 November 2015. Chief Minister Fabian Picardo announced the date of the election on Monday 19 October 2015 during a speech on the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation.[2]
Background
Under section 38(2) of the Gibraltar Constitution Order 2006, the parliament must be dissolved by the Governor four years after its first meeting following the last election (unless the Chief Minister advises the Governor to dissolve parliament sooner). Under section 37 of the Constitution, writs for a general election must be issued within thirty days of the dissolution and the general election must then be held no later than three months after the issuing of a writ.[3][4] In October 2015, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo announced that the election would take place on 26 November. Following the British tradition, elections in Gibraltar conventionally take place on a Thursday.
Campaign
The UK-based UK Independence Party announced in 2014 that it was planning on fielding candidates for the first time in Gibraltar's next general election.[5][6] However, ultimately they did not field any candidates. There were also no independents, the first occasion on which no independents or members of any party outside of Parliament contested the elections.
Opinion polls
A GBC public opinion poll of 17 November predicted 67% for GSLP/Libs and 33% for GSD.[7]
Results
The results saw the first occasion on which a party won over 100,000. Both the GSLP and LPG received more votes in the elections than in any other previous general elections, with the LPG receiving the highest percentage of votes in its history. Contrastingly, the GSD saw the largest drop in its vote share in its history. Voter turnout (70.77%) was the lowest since 1980.
Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | % | +/– | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
rowspan="3" bgcolor="Template:Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party/meta/color" | | Alliance | bgcolor="Template:Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party/meta/color" | | Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party | 70,551 | 47.8 | +13.6 | 7 | 41.2 | ±0 |
bgcolor="Template:Liberal Party of Gibraltar/meta/color" | | Liberal Party of Gibraltar | 30,399 | 20.6 | +6.0 | 3 | 17.6 | ±0 | ||
rowspan="1" bgcolor="Template:Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party/meta/color" | | Total Alliance | 100,950 | 68.4 | +19.6 | 10 | 58.8 | ±0 | ||
bgcolor="Template:Gibraltar Social Democrats/meta/color" | | Gibraltar Social Democrats | 46,545 | 31.6 | -15.2 | 7 | 41.2 | ±0 | ||
Total | 147,495 | 100 | - | 17 | 100 | - | |||
Valid votes | 15,578 | 94.6 | |||||||
Invalid/blank votes | 897 | 5.4 | |||||||
Total votes cast | 16,475 | 100 | |||||||
Registered voters/turnout | 23,278 | 70.8 | |||||||
Source: Parliament of Gibraltar |
The figures above have been consolidated by party. Under the Gibraltar electoral system, all candidates are listed on the ballot paper individually. Every voter has up to 10 votes to vote for their choice from all the candidates standing. Accordingly, although there are more seats available, the main parties field 10 candidates and hope to secure 'block votes'. Thus the total of 147,495 votes comes from 16,475 voters, a 70.8% turnout of the electorate.
By candidate
Candidate | Party | Votes | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
style="background-color: Template:GSLP/meta/color" | | Fabian Picardo | GSLP | 10,852 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:Gibraltar Liberal Party/meta/color" | | Joseph Garcia | LPG | 10,661 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:GSLP/meta/color" | | John Cortes | GSLP | 10,529 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:GSLP/meta/color" | | Gilbert Licudi | GSLP | 10,379 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:GSLP/meta/color" | | Albert Isola | GSLP | 10,313 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:Gibraltar Liberal Party/meta/color" | | Neil Costa | LPG | 10,048 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:GSLP/meta/color" | | Samantha Sacramento | GSLP | 9,822 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:Gibraltar Liberal Party/meta/color" | | Steven Linares | LPG | 9,690 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:GSLP/meta/color" | | Paul Balban | GSLP | 9,511 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:GSLP/meta/color" | | Joseph Bossano | GSLP | 9,145 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:GSD/meta/color" | | Daniel Feetham | GSD | 5,054 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:GSD/meta/color" | | Marlene Hassan Nahon | GSD | 4,892 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:GSD/meta/color" | | Elliott Phillips | GSD | 4,784 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:GSD/meta/color" | | Edwin Reyes | GSD | 4,766 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:GSD/meta/color" | | Roy Clinton | GSD | 4,733 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:GSD/meta/color" | | Trevor Hammond | GSD | 4,578 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:GSD/meta/color" | | Lawrence Llamas | GSD | 4,565 | Elected |
style="background-color: Template:GSD/meta/color" | | Robert Vasquez | GSD | 4,535 | |
style="background-color: Template:GSD/meta/color" | | Christopher White | GSD | 4,324 | |
style="background-color: Template:GSD/meta/color" | | Kim Karnani-Santos | GSD | 4,314 | |
Source: Parliament of Gibraltar |
References
- ^ a b Oliva, Francis (9 December 2011). "Picardo Edges into Office with 2% Win". Gibraltar Chronicle. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
- ^ "Gibraltar calls elections for November 26". AFP. Yahoo! News. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
- ^ "Official text of the Gibraltar Constitution Order 2006" (PDF). gibraltarlaws.gov.gi. 14 December 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
- ^ "Reporting of the Proceedings of the Gibraltar Parliament" (PDF). parliament.gi. 21 December 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
- ^ UKIP To Contest Gibraltar 2015 General Election YGTV, 19 August 2013
- ^ UKIP hopes to fight elections in Gibraltar Archived 11 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine Gibraltar Chronicle, 1 March 2014
- ^ Latest GBC opinion poll gives the GSLP Liberal Alliance big lead over the GSD Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation, 17 November 2015