Sep 24 - GSD Presents Election Candidates – Ten Names Revealed
The GSD has this evening presented its slate of ten candidates for this year’s general election. Only party leader Daniel Feetham and current MP Edwin Reyes remain from the party’s current parliamentary team.
The remaining eight candidates include Marlene Hassan Nahon, who stood for the GSD in 2013’s by-election and Elliott Phillips who stood for the PDP in 2011 before joining the party in 2013.
Here is the full list:
Daniel Feetham
Roy Clinton
Trevor Hammond
Lawrence Llamas
Marlene Hassan Nahon
Elliot Phillips
Edwin Reyes
Kim Karnani Santos
Robert Vasquez
Chris White
Mr Feetham described this as a team “not of politicians but of hard working committed individuals who are in many cases leaders in their field.” He said his party was lucky to have such individuals at its disposal.
Speaking at a meeting this evening, Mr Feetham said that the upcoming election wouldn’t simply be a choice between two political parties, “It will be choice between two very different visions for Gibraltar.”
He said that the current administration represented “a vision…based on the expedient view that betraying fundamental principles that they stood for in 2011 is fine as long as you cosmetically pay lip service to those principles or throw parties or spend money that you do not have or cannot borrow legally.”
He said the GSLP-Libs were guilty of undermining principles such as openness, transparency and accountability which they had nevertheless promoted back in 2011.
“They have proved the most opaque Government in the history of Gibraltar politics. At best refusing to answer questions in parliament about how people’s money is being spent and - at worst - lying to parliament about how the people’s money is being spent,” he said.
The GSD leader also spoke of “dozens of small companies [that] had been incorporated at No 6 Convent Place [and] put in the names of GSLP supporters with subsidised labour from the FJS and contracts by direct allocation” and said that the Government had consistently lied about public finances.
He repeated his party’s opposition of Government plans to build an LNG power station in the North Mole. He said the Government had “ploughed ahead with the project despite the absence of safety reports and the reasonable objections from residents in the area.”
Speaking about the fishing dispute, Mr Feetham said that the GSLP-Libs had failed to put an end to fishing with nets in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.
On employment, he said that the current administration had “condemned a whole generation of our young people to no or no adequate training. “
Instead of the vision offered by the GSLP-Libs, Mr Feetham argued that his party would instead work for a future marked by more responsible public spending:
“The GSD stands for running our affairs in a responsible and prudent way; for the need to live within your means; never borrowing more than you can afford; a party that not only thinks about the present but also about the future; that understands that we not only have a duty to protect the present generation but we also have a duty to protect future generations.”
He said the Government was fuelling a culture of entitlement and unrealistic expectations which was simply not sustainable in the long run or in light of potential future risks like a UK EU exit.
However, Mr Feetham rejected the suggestion that his party would advocate austerity:
“It means getting your priorities right; schools above plush extensions to the offices of the Chief Minister and so many parties; it means an end to waste; an end to buying votes with promises that cannot be delivered unless you have hidden borrowing in Government owned companies.”
{fcomment}
