Gibraltar general election, 2007

Gibraltar general election, 2007

11 October 2007

17 seats to the Gibraltar Parliament 9 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader Peter Caruana Joe Bossano Party Social Democrats Socialist Labour Alliance - Liberal Alliance Leader since 1991 1978 Last election 8 (51.5%) 7 (39.7%) Seats won 10 7 Seat change 2 Popular vote 76,334 70,397 Percentage 49.33% 45.49%

Chief Minister before election Peter Caruana Social Democrats Elected Chief Minister Peter Caruana Social Democrats

General elections were held in Gibraltar on 11 October 2007.^[1] The incumbent Chief Minister Peter Caruana narrowly won a fourth term, but opposition leader Joe Bossano had a very strong showing.^[2] Joe Bossano noted that this would be his last term as an MP, and joked that he would not join the government, despite receiving a higher personal vote than some members of the Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD).

The GSD had ten candidates (all of which were elected), Bossano's party the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP) had seven candidates (four of which were elected) and the Gibraltar Liberal Party (GLP) led by Dr. Joseph Garcia had three candidates (all of which were elected). The Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) fielded six candidates five of whom obtained the least votes in the election after a lacklustre campaign. Two independents were unable to break through Gibraltar's party block vote system but did relatively well. They were the right wing lawyer Charles Gomez of New Gibraltar Democracy and Richard Martinez of the Parental Support Group.

An exit poll organised by the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) had given victory to the GSLP/Liberal coalition, but as counting progressed this proved incorrect.

Results

 Summary of the 11 October 2007 Gibraltar Parliament election results

Parties^1		Votes^2	%	Seats
Gibraltar Social Democrats		76,334	49.33	10
Coalition	Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party	49,277	31.84	4
	Gibraltar Liberal Party	21,120	13.65	3
Progressive Democratic Party		5,799	3.75	—
Charles Gomez (independent, New Gibraltar Democracy)		1,210	0.78	—
Richard Martinez (independent)		1,003	0.65	—
Total (turnout 81.4%)		154,743	100.00	17
Source: Gibfocus ^1 These figures have been consolidated by party. Under the Gibraltar electoral system, all candidates are listed on the ballot paper individually. ^2 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 154,743 votes comes from 16,004 voters, an 81.4% turnout of the electorate.

References

1. Searle, Dominique. "11 October: Caruana Calls a Snap Election". Gibraltar Chronicle. Retrieved 8 September 2007.
2. "Peter Caruana wins the Gibraltar elections". Typically Spanish. 12 October 2007. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2013.