A by-election was held to the Gibraltar Parliament on 4 July 2013 to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Housing Minister Charles Bruzon in April 2013. The Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP),

Gibraltar Social Democrats The Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD) is a liberal-conservative, centre-right political party in Gibraltar. The GSD was the governing party for four successive terms in office under the leadership of Peter Caruana, from the 1996 general electi ...

(GSD), Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) and an independent contested the by-election. The

Liberal Party of Gibraltar The Liberal Party of Gibraltar (Libs or LPG) is a liberal political party in Gibraltar. It was founded in 1991 as the Gibraltar National Party and is led by Dr. Joseph Garcia. The LPG forms the GSLP–Liberal Alliance in partnership with the Gi ...

who is in alliance and in Government with the GSLP backed the GSLP's candidate. The

Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation The Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) is Gibraltar's public service broadcaster. It has provided the community with a radio and television service since 1963. History Modelled on the BBC, the Corporation was established in 1963 with ...

's pre-election poll gave the GSLP's candidate Albert Isola an advantage of almost 5% over the GSD's Marlene Hassan-Nahon. It was also the last elections that the Progressive Democratic Party had taken part before their disbandment over a month later that same year.

Background

Charles Bruzon was a member of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP) and the Government's Housing Minister since 9 December 2011. His seat in the Gibraltar Parliament became vacant following his death on 16 April 2013 aged 74, following a long battle with illness. On 20 May 2013,

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Fabian Picardo Fabian Raymond Picardo (born 18 February 1972) is a Gibraltarian politician and barrister serving as Chief Minister of Gibraltar and Leader of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party since 2011. At the 2015 and 2019 Gibraltar general elections, P ...

met with

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Sir

Adrian Johns Vice Admiral Sir Adrian James Johns, (born 1 September 1951) is a former senior officer in the Royal Navy, serving as Second Sea Lord between 2005 and 2008. He was the Governor of Gibraltar between 2009 and 2013. Early life and education Jo ...

at The Convent and asked him to issue a

writ In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, a ...

for the by-election. The Chief Minister then made the announcement in Parliament later that day calling for candidates to sign up by noon on 14 June. Picardo confirmed that the GSLP would, in alliance with the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

field a candidate for election. He announced it would be a GSLP candidate but that the alliance would fight the election jointly. The

Opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...

had initially decided not to contest the by-election considering instead a "gentleman's agreement" as the seat had been one of the GSLP which had become vacant under tragic circumstances. The Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) which was not represented in Parliament immediately decided it would contest the by-election seeing it as an opportunity to be represented despite its poor performance at the previous two

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. On 30 May 2013 the PDP announced its candidature of party leader Nick Cruz. At this point the GSD was reconsidering its decision not to contest the by-election as its leader,

Daniel Feetham Daniel Anthony Feetham KC MP is a Gibraltarian politician and lawyer who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD) from 2013 to 2017. Political career Mr Feetham was one of the founders of the Gi ...

, said it would be "illogical" for the elected Opposition not to do so if the PDP signed up. The party announced, via its

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account on 5 June 2013, that it had chosen former Chief Minister

Joshua Hassan Sir Joshua Abraham Hassan (21 August 1915 – 1 July 1997), nicknamed "''Salvador''" (''Saviour''), was a Gibraltarian politician, and first mayor and Chief Minister of Gibraltar, serving four terms as chief minister for a total of over 20 year ...

's daughter

Marlene Hassan-Nahon Marlene Hassan Nahon (born 1976) is a Gibraltarian historian, journalist and politician, currently serving as a member of the Gibraltar Parliament since 2015. Biography Hassan Nahon is daughter of the late Chief Minister Sir Joshua Abrah ...

, as its candidate. The GSLP chose former Member of the then House of Assembly Albert Isola, son of former Leader of the Opposition

Peter Isola Peter Joseph Isola, OBE, GMH (Gibraltar, 1929 – 28 January 2006 ), was a Gibraltarian politician and lawyer. He succeeded Maurice Xiberras as leader of the Democratic Party for a British Gibraltar (DPBG). Early life and career Isola was b ...

, as the party's candidate on 9 June 2013. The final candidate to sign up on 12 June 2013 was independent

Bryan Zammit Bryan may refer to: Places United States * Bryan, Arkansas * Bryan, Kentucky * Bryan, Ohio * Bryan, Texas * Bryan, Wyoming, a ghost town in Sweetwater County in the U.S. state of Wyoming * Bryan Township (disambiguation) Facilities and struct ...

Opinion polls

A public opinion poll commissioned by the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) predicted a close running between Isola and Nahon. The survey was carried out over six days on 500 eligible voters through face-to-face interviews, representing 2.5% of the

Gibraltarian The Gibraltarians (Spanish: ''gibraltareños'', colloquially: '' llanitos'') are an ethnic group native to Gibraltar, a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance to the Mediterran ...

electorate. The poll's results were published on 24 June 2013 and showed Isola with 41.4%, Nahon with 36.5%, Zammit with 11.9% and Cruz with 8.2% support amongst the interviewees with 2% of them yet undecided. GBC's poll also predicted that the 5.4% of voters who previously voted for the GSLP/Liberals at the 2011 general election would vote for the GSD's candidate, while only 2.4% of those who previously voted for the GSD would vote for the GSLP's candidate.

Results

References

{{Gibraltar elections By-elections in Gibraltar

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By-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...