European Union (Referendum) Act 2016

Act of the Gibraltar Parliament
Parliament of Gibraltar
Long title	An act to enable the full participation of Gibraltar in the United Kingdom's referendum on whether it should remain a member of the European Union, and to provide for the making of subsidiary legislation in connection therewith and for matters connected thereto, including amending primary legislation by subsidiary legislation as the circumstances require.
Citation	Act Number 2016-01(Legislation Number (L.N.) 2016/034, as amended by L.N. 2016/035, L.N. 2016/082 and L.N. 2016/120)
Territorial extent	Gibraltar
Dates
Governor's assent	28 January 2016 (Governor's assent, Granted by theGovernor of Gibraltar)
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

TheEuropean Union (Referendum) Act 2016 was an Act of theGibraltar Parliament, which implements the United Kingdom'sEuropean Union Referendum Act 2015 inGibraltar.^[1] It was the first time a referendum has been held in Gibraltar on the issue of continued EU membership since the territory joined along with the United Kingdom in 1973 and was the first time that anyBritish Overseas Territory had participated in a UK-wide referendum. The Act commenced on 26 January 2016, and received assent from theGovernor of Gibraltar on 28 January 2016.

On 1 January 1973,Gibraltar along with the rest of the United Kingdom joined what was then known as theEuropean Communities (EC), the main component of which was known as theEuropean Economic Community (EEC), but all collectively known informally but commonly and generally in the United Kingdom as theCommon Market which later became the European Union. Gibraltar's accession to the EC was determined in legislation as part of the UK's membership under theEuropean Communities Act 1972. When the territory joined it was completely isolated from the rest of the EC as neighbouring Spain did not become an EC member until 1 January 1986, some thirteen years later. Gibraltar did not participate in the1975 UK European Communities membership referendum even though the result directly impacted on its membership and didn't participate in any European Parliamentary Elections between 1979 and 1999 but in 2002 legislation was passed by theBritish Parliament which allowed Gibraltar to formally take part in the2004 European Parliament election as part of the South West European Parliament constituency in all subsequent European elections. Following the surprise election victory by theConservatives in May 2015 it was announced that Gibraltar would fully participate in the proposed referendum on continuing EU membership and this was legislated for in theEuropean Union Referendum Act 2015.

The act legislated for a referendum to be held inGibraltar on whether or not to remain a member of theEuropean Union (EU), which was a single majority vote conducted and overseen by theElectoral Commission with the result in the territory fed into theSouth West England regional count area in line withEuropean Elections under theEuropean Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 as the overall outcome depends on how the rest of the United Kingdom votes under the terms of theEuropean Union Referendum Act 2015 and allows for a "Counting Officer (CO)" to be appointed within the territory to oversee and officiate the local count. The referendum was held on the same day as in the rest of the United Kingdom on Thursday 23 June 2016. It also gave theUK Electoral Commission the legal power and authority to oversee the referendum within the territory.

The act and theEuropean Union Referendum Act 2015 legislates that the official referendum campaign period up until polling day will be of ten weeks duration (15 April to 23 June 2016) just as it will be within the United Kingdom with an official PPERA period where all government and public bodies inGibraltar are unable to comment or publish information specifically in regard to the referendum for a period of four weeks duration (27 May to 23 June 2016) up until polling day. During the campaign period the two lead campaign groups in Gibraltar just as they were in the United Kingdom areBritain Stronger in Europe who are advocating a "Remain" vote andVote Leave who are advocating a "Leave" vote.

Under the act and theEuropean Union Referendum Act 2015 all political parties inGibraltar were limited to a maximum upper limit of £700,000.

All the political parties and every politician within theGibraltar Parliament supported a "remain" vote during the referendum campaign.

The question that appeared on ballot papers in the referendum before the electorate as set out under the act and the provisions of theEuropean Union Referendum Act 2015 was:

Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?

with the responses to the question to be (to be marked with a single (X)):

Remain a member of the European Union
Leave the European Union

The right to vote in the referendum is defined by the legislation as limited to residents of Gibraltar who were also eitherCommonwealth citizens under theBritish Nationality Act 1948 (which includeBritish citizensand most other British nationals), or were alsocitizens of the Republic of Ireland, or both.

Residents of Gibraltar who were citizens of other EU countries (other than the United Kingdom) were not allowed to vote unless they were citizens (or were also citizens) of the Republic of Ireland, ofMalta or of the Republic ofCyprus.

The minimum age for voters in the referendum is 18 years, a figure in line with elections which are held in the UK. Polling Stations on the day of the referendum were open from 07:00 until 22:00 CEST (Thursday 23 June 2016) but counting did not begin until 23:00 CEST when polling stations close in the rest of the United Kingdom.

On Tuesday 21 June 2016 theElectoral Commission announced the official number of eligible voters who are entitled to vote in the referendum on Thursday 23 June under the provisions of the act in Gibraltar following the closing date for registration on Thursday 9 June 2016, these figures include all Commonwealth and Irish citizens.^[4] The final number of eligible voters was published after 9 pm on Thursday 23 June 2016 by the Electoral Commission.^[5]

The following shows both the provisional figure and the final figure in heavy bold brackets.

The referendum result withinGibraltar was declared early on Friday 24 June 2016 by the counting officer and Clerk to theGibraltar Parliament Paul Martinez at theUniversity of Gibraltar at 00:40CEST (23:40BST) making it the first of the 382 voting areas to declare and its result was fed into theSouth West England regional count and then the overall national count. The result saw the highest percentage of "Remain" votes of all the 382 voting areas with only 4% of Gibraltarian voters opting to leave on a very high turnout of 84% with large queues reported at the Polling stations.

The United Kingdom overall voted by 51.9% to 48.1% to leave the European Union. Despite the overwhelming vote to remain in the European Union, the overseas territory ofGibraltar would leave the European Union.

The United Kingdom triggeredArticle 50 on 29 March 2017 which included Gibraltar although the territory was not specifically mentioned in the Article 50 letter that was sent to the European Union by theUK Government.

• Effect of Brexit on Gibraltar
• European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002
• European Union (Amendment) Act 2008
• European Union Act 2011
• Matthews v United Kingdom
• United Kingdom renegotiation of European Union membership, 2015–16

• Referendums in Gibraltar
• Gibraltar and the European Union
• 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum
• 2016 elections in Gibraltar
• January 2016 in Europe

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