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All 17 seats in theGibraltar Parliament 9 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 76.40% ( 5.56pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General elections were held in Gibraltar on 12 October 2023 to elect all 17 members of the fifthGibraltar Parliament.[2] This was the first election in Gibraltar's history to use an electronic voting count system. TheGSLP–Liberal Alliance narrowly secured a fourth term in office, though it saw its majority reduced to one seat, whilst the GSD became the sole opposition party, gaining two seats (one by unseating the Alliance's Minister of Business and TourismVijay Daryanani and taking one from the non-contesting party,Together Gibraltar, which had been held byMarlene Hassan-Nahon).
On 24 August 2020 it was announced that Government MP and Minister,Gilbert Licudi, would resign as Minister but remain as MP backbencher. Later, on 17 July 2023, he announced he would step down for re-election.
On 14 June 2023 it was announced thatTogether Gibraltar founder and leader and her party's sole MP,Marlene Hassan-Nahon (daughter of Gibraltar's first Mayor and Chief Minister,Joshua Hassan), would not stand for the elections and would leave politics by then.[3]
On 5 September 2023 ongoing negotiations between Together Gibraltar and the GSD to form an electoral pact were finally abandoned.[4]
On 13 September 2023 it was announced that GSD MP,Elliott Phillips, would not stand for re-election and thatRobert Vazquez will return as an independent MP candidate. On 15 September 2023 it was announced thatPaul Balban,Albert Isola andSamantha Sacramento, GSLP/Libs Government MPs and Ministers, would not stand for re-election.
On 16 September it was announced that GSD MP,Daniel Feetham, would not stand for re-election.
On 17 September the GSLP have announced their new four candidates for the elections:Hassans' Legal Partner and Head of Financial Services,Nigel Feetham KC (brother of outgoing GSD MP, Daniel Feetham and son of former GSLP MP and Minister from 1988 to 1996,Michael Feetham); former teacher andMiss Gibraltar 1974, Patricia Orfila; Director of the Gibraltar Academy of Music and Performing Arts (GAMPA) and formerMayor of Gibraltar,Christian Santos and Hassans' Legal Partner and Solicitor,Gemma Arias-Vasquez.
On 18 September it was announced thatTogether Gibraltar would not contest the election. Interim Leader,Nicky Calamaro, said it was because of lack of support from the voters since Marlene's departure, resulting on TG to restart itself as a pressure group to regain trust of the people, but he didn't rule out the possibility of being an independent candidate.[5]
On that same night the GSD announced their 6 new candidates with 3x women (TSN's Senior Law Associate and Barrister and GSD's executive member and 2019 election candidateJoelle Ladislaus; RGP's ((Royal Gibraltar Police)) Senior Compliance Officer, Head of Special Needs Action Group ((SNAG)) and GSD executive,Atrish Sanchez and inaugural former Vice-Chancellor and CEO ofUniversity of Gibraltar,Daniella Tilbury); 1x Moroccan born-Gibraltarian Muslim male and GSD executive and Future member (Youseff El Hana); GSD executive (Formerly Together Gibraltar executive member) and candidate of TG in 2019 (Craig Sacarello) and chairman of GSD Future and Isolas' Law Associate,Giovanni Origo. On 19 September, it was announced thatLiberal Party of Gibraltar MP and Minister,Steven Linares, would not stand for re-election, after 23 years of being an MP, and would be replaced by GHA's (Gibraltar Health Authority) Emergency Medical Technician,Leslie Bruzon of the same party.
On 14 September both businessmanAllan Asquez and retired teacherPatricia Orfila put their names forward for GSLP executives to consider them as candidates. Allan said he had been motivated by issues including social housing and secure employment, especially for people with learning difficulties. However, on 17 September, shortly before the candidate selection process, he announced that he had withdrawn his application and left the party. Speaking on the 'Gibraltar Today' section onGBC'sRadio Gibraltar, he alleged that he did what he did because the party's leader and Chief Minister,Fabian Picardo, had allegedly conveyed to him that he did not want Allan to be selected and told the executive members not to vote for him, arguing that it broke the democratic process selection. He also alleged that if the executive members voted for him, Fabian Picardo would step down as party leader and/or Chief Minister. He also allegedly stated that he was threatened by Picardo that he would seek him as a backbencher rather than a minister if elected into Government.
On 21 September GSD candidateYoussef El Hana apologised, on GBC's Viewpoint, to Gibraltar'sJewish community for 'offensive language' used on social media from 2018, regarding national and religious conflicts betweenPalestine andIsrael. Reacting to his apology, the Chair of the Charity,Learning from Auschwitz Gibraltar,Naomi Hassan-Weisfogel, said that he marched in the UK calling for the destruction of Israel in support of Palestine and that he had made these offensive posts for months, for which the march, Youseff denies.[6]
On 5 November 2024 Paul Balban revealed to GBC's City Pulse that he originally suggested to himself that he should contest the elections as an Independent candidate, in order to gauge his environmental policies, which had faced public backlash at the time he served his last term as Transport Minister.
Under section 38(2) of theGibraltar Constitution Order 2006, the Parliament must bedissolved four years after its first meeting following the last election (unless theChief Minister advises theGovernor of Gibraltar 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.[7]
On 12 September 2023 Chief MinisterFabian Picardo formally asked Governor SirDavid Steel to dissolve parliament and an election to take place on 12 October 2023.[8]
Note: This wasPanaroma's last opinion polling article before they dissolved in April 2024.
| Release date | Publisher(s) | Sample size | GSLP/Libs | GSD | TG | Ind. | Split vote | Blank/ not used | Don't know/ undecided | Lead | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 October 2023 | GBC Exit Poll | 1,403 | 48.8% 8 | 49.6% 9 | – | 1.6% | – | – | – | 0.8% | [9] |
| 10 October 2023[a] | Panorama | – | 49.2% 9 | 48.7% 8 | – | 2.1% | – | – | – | 0.5% | [10] |
| 9 October 2023[b] | GBC/Chronicle | 600 | 49.9% 8 | 48.3% 9 | – | 1.8% | – | 9% | – | 1.6% | [11] |
| 5 October 2023[a] | GBC/Chronicle | 600 | 48.65 8 | 49.18% 9 | – | 2.17% | – | 18%[a] | – | 0.53% | [12] |
| 17 September 2023[c] | GBC | 1,100 | 21.64% | 23.72% | 2.98% | – | 12.26% | 8.03% | 31.38% | 2.08% | [13] |
In the initial opinion poll by GBC (released on 17 September 2023), the issues likely to influence votes are reported as the following:[13]
| Candidate | Party | Parliamentary role(s) | Seeking re-election? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fabian Picardo (since2003) | GSLP–Liberal Alliance (GSLP) | Chief Minister (since December 2011) Leader of GSLP & Alliance (since April 2011) | Yes | |
| Joseph Garcia (since 1999)[a] | GSLP–Liberal Alliance (LPG) | Deputy Chief Minister (since 2011) Leader of LPG (since 1992) | Yes | |
| John Cortes (since2011) | GSLP–Liberal Alliance (GSLP) | Minister for the Environment, Sustainability and Climate Change | Yes | |
| Albert Isola (since 2013)[b] | GSLP–Liberal Alliance (GSLP) | Minister for Digital and Financial Services | No | |
| Joseph Bossano (since1972) | GSLP–Liberal Alliance (GSLP) (since1980) | Minister for Economic Development, Enterprise, Telecommunications and the Gibraltar Savings Bank Founder & previous leader of GSLP (1980–2011) Former leader of Alliance (2000–2011) | Yes | |
| Gilbert Licudi (since2007) | GSLP–Liberal Alliance (GSLP) | Minister for Education, Employment, Utilities and the Port (2019–2020) Backbencher (since 2020) | No | |
| Steven Linares (since2000) | GSLP–Liberal Alliance (LPG) | Minister for Housing, Youth and Sport | No | |
| Paul Balban (since 2011) | GSLP–Liberal Alliance (GSLP) | Minister for Health and Care | No | |
| Samantha Sacramento (since 2011) | GSLP–Liberal Alliance (GSLP) | Minister for Justice, Multiculturalism, Equality and Community Affairs | No | |
| Vijay Daryanani | GSLP–Liberal Alliance (LPG) | Minister for Business, Tourism and Transport | Yes | |
| Marlene Hassan-Nahon (since2015) | Together Gibraltar (since2019) | Opposition MP forTogether Gibraltar Founder and former leader of TG (2017–June 2023) | No | |
| Damon Bossino (2011–2015; since 2019) | Gibraltar Social Democrats | Shadow Minister for Housing, Lands & Transport | Yes | |
| Daniel Feetham (since 2007) | Gibraltar Social Democrats | Shadow Minister for Care, Opportunity & Justice Previous Leader of GSD and Opposition (2011–2017) | No | |
| Keith Azopardi (1996–2003; since 2019) | Gibraltar Social Democrats | Leader of the Opposition (since 2017) Leader of GSD (since 2017) | Yes | |
| Roy Clinton (since 2015) | Gibraltar Social Democrats | Deputy Leader of the Opposition & Shadow Minister for Finance & Value for Money Former Interim Leader of GSD and Opposition (2017) | Yes | |
| Elliott Phillips (since 2015) | Gibraltar Social Democrats | Shadow Minister for Environment, Transport & Health | No | |
| Edwin Reyes (since 2007) | Gibraltar Social Democrats | Shadow Minister for Education, Employment, Culture & Sport | Yes | |
| Source:Parliament of Gibraltar | ||||
| Party or alliance | Ideology | Current Seats | Slogan | Election Logo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GSLP/Libs Alliance | Social Democracy,Social Liberalism | 10 | "Keep GibraltarSafe" |  | |
| GSD | Liberal Conservatism,British Unionism | 6 | "Make The Change For A Bright Future" |  | |
| Robert Vasquez (Independent) | Social Democracy | N/A | "Vote Vasquez GetFACTS (Fairness,Accountability,Community,Transparency,Stability)" |  | |
 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party or alliance | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |||
| Alliance | Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party | 63,700 | 35.44 | 7 | 0 | ||
| Liberal Party of Gibraltar | 26,241 | 14.60 | 2 | –1 | |||
| Total | 89,941 | 50.04 | 9 | –1 | |||
| Gibraltar Social Democrats | 86,537 | 48.15 | 8 | +2 | |||
| Ind. Robert Vasquez | 3,262 | 1.81 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 179,740 | 100.00 | 17 | 0 | |||
| Valid votes | 18,784 | 97.55 | |||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 472 | 2.45 | |||||
| Total votes | 19,256 | 100.00 | |||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 25,200 | 76.41 | |||||
| Source:Parliament,Chronicle | |||||||
| Candidate | Party | Alliance | Votes | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Garcia | LPG | GSLP–Liberal Alliance | 9,852 | Elected | |
| Fabian Picardo | GSLP | GSLP–Liberal Alliance | 9,844 | Elected | |
| Keith Azopardi | GSD | - | 9,607 | Elected | |
| Damon Bossino | GSD | - | 9,602 | Elected | |
| Nigel Feetham | GSLP | GSLP–Liberal Alliance | 9,298 | Elected | |
| Gemma Arias-Vasquez | GSLP | GSLP–Liberal Alliance | 9,280 | Elected | |
| John Cortes | GSLP | GSLP–Liberal Alliance | 9,256 | Elected | |
| Roy Clinton | GSD | - | 9,250 | Elected | |
| Craig Sacarello | GSD | - | 9,068 | Elected | |
| Christian Santos | GSLP | GSLP–Liberal Alliance | 8,947 | Elected | |
| Patricia Orfila | GSLP | GSLP–Liberal Alliance | 8,729 | Elected | |
| Edwin Reyes | GSD | - | 8,680 | Elected | |
| Joelle Ladislaus | GSD | - | 8,601 | Elected | |
| Leslie Bruzon | LPG | GSLP–Liberal Alliance | 8,457 | Elected | |
| Joseph Bossano | GSLP | GSLP–Liberal Alliance | 8,346 | Elected | |
| Giovanni Origo | GSD | - | 8,314 | Elected | |
| Atrish Sanchez | GSD | - | 8,258 | Elected | |
| Daniella Tilbury | GSD | - | 8,074 | ||
| Vijay Daryanani | LPG | GSLP–Liberal Alliance | 7,932 | Unseated | |
| Youseff El Hana | GSD | - | 7,083 | ||
| Robert Vasquez | Independent | - | 3,262 | ||
| Source:Parliament,Chronicle | |||||
