Four weeks since the election was called and three days left before the vote, YGTV met with all party leaders during the busy election campaign to bring readers a snapshot of the hopefuls willing to lead Gibraltar during the next four years.

By Adriana Lopez

Thoughts on election date

Keith Azopardi told YGTV that his party had been expecting an election even earlier than the 17^th October.

“Actually, we were expecting an earlier election, because there has been a rolling Brexit deadline. First it was the 29^th of March. I actually thought it was a possibility that the Chief Minister would dissolve Parliament before the 29^th March deadline, then they rolled on to April and then it was made clear that it would jump to the 31^st of October.

“But, as a result of all of that, we have been making our own internal plans for a General Election for some time. When we knew there was not going to be an election in the summer we carried on planning, but again I had anticipated an election might have been called for a date in September. So yes, we were on electoral footing for some time,” explained the leader of the GSD.

FACTS

Top moment in political career: Drafting the new 2006 constitution

Favourite colour: Blue

Favourite song: It’s really impossible... I tell my eldest daughter that I discovered Panic at the Disco, but she disagrees with me.

Dream holiday destination: Rome, although I recently discovered Formentera and it’s really a great place.

Favourite snack: Crisps

Favourite drink: Gin and Tonic

Favourite Gibraltarian homemade dish: Calentita, what else could it be?

PARTY’S MESSAGE

“We see this as a philosophical choice, between two very different ways of doing things. We view the GSLP way of unaccountable practices of ratcheting up public debt, of unfairness. When you look at the pockets of discontent over the last few years you can see that has got to do with unfairness in dealing with employment issues of many people, dead-end jobs, lack of training and then general economic recklessness.

“It’s easy to use other people’s money and borrow more and more and more and that’s not the way forward. What we are doing is shackling future generations with debt. And I say it’s a choice between that kind of approach – and the choice of the GSD which promises more accountability, more transparency, more fairness, and more social progression.

“We view the GSLP as our main electoral opponents and that it’s a choice for people,” argued Mr Azopardi.

READY FOR BREXIT?

YGTV asked the leader of the GSD to what extent Brexit had played a role when designing the manifesto and selecting its 10 candidates.

“One of the things I first said when the election was called is that it’s very important for there to be competence and experience. People who want change need to be clear that there is another team out there that they can entrust government too and that has experience and ability and competence to be able to discharge the role, not just of domestic affairs but international issues and deal with the Brexit challenge.

“People need to be clear that that is the case. I have great faith that we will present that degree of competence to people. We have seven people who have parliamentary and ministerial experience. We then have three new faces. If you look at the 2015 slate, five of the former MPs are repeating their presence on the slate together with five new faces. But of the two of the five new, includes me and of course Damon Bossino who was deputy leader of the party and a Member of the House.

“I think we bring to bear a degree of expertise and experience that would be useful in dealing with the Brexit challenge. And that has been a direct influence in how we have constructed this team,” explained Mr Azopardi.

ABORTION

On abortion, YGTV asked the leader of the GSD if his party would still go ahead with the referendum planned for March 2020, or reverse the law.

“The referendum will only happen in March if the GSLP-Liberals are elected. Marlene Hassan has made clear that she doesn’t support a referendum and nor do we. Because we think that the law that was passed by GSLP majority was based on massive misrepresentation to Parliament, and so the referendum will also be misrepresented to the people.

“We are not in favour of that. We have made very clear what our policy is. We will not have a referendum. We will not commence the law that was passed by a GSLP majority. Instead what we will do is we will have a law that protects the unborn child subject to exceptions which are the exceptions they are discussed in the UK Supreme Court judgement, i.e., rape, fatal foetal abnormality and incest.

“We will devise a law that needs to be subject to clear consultation and that will be a commitment that not only we have made it clear in august that we will take to election, but it will be in our manifesto so people will see very clearly that there are three distinct choices to be made on the issue of abortion,” claimed Mr Azopardi.

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM

As the political scene in Gibraltar welcomes the highest number of candidates in an election, YGTV asked the leader of the GSD, how his party would support parliamentary reform in the next electoral cycle.      

“I personally have always been willing to consider a change in the electoral system. Indeed as a party we are open to considering a change from the current system where an elector has a specific number of votes, to maybe a system where you have that, combined with some kind of proportional representation or something else.

“I think changes to the electorate system should not be taken by the government of the day, they are so important that they affect democratic matters that they need to be put to consultation. One of the things we would do in government is to consult on the issue not just on democratic and parliamentary reform but also on changes to the electorate system to ensure we get better representation of the diverse views.

“It’s not just about changes to the electorate system; we need to change the way parliament runs so that we attract different types of individuals to come forward,” explained Mr Azopardi.