Jul 05 Isola Clinches By-Election – Almost 10% Lead Over GSD
Albert Isola, the GSLP candidate in yesterday’s by-election, will today be sworn in as the tenth Government Minister after coming first by a margin of almost 10% in the public vote. Mr Isola, who secured 4,899 votes (49.8%) beat the GSD candidate Marlene Nahon who received 3,927 (40%). The PDP’s Nick Cruz received 688 votes (7%) and independent candidate Bryan Zammit secured a total of 315 votes (3.2%).
The overall turnout for the by-election was 10,034 which represents 46.34% of the electorate, a figure slightly lower than that of 48.83% for the last by-election in 1999 and much lower, as expected, than the last general election which saw 82.52% of the electorate turn up to vote.
Mr Isola went up to the stage to strong applause and said that the contest had been a “celebration of democracy” and that the by-election had been “all about Charles Bruzon” the GSLP Minister whose death had triggered the vote. He said it would be a “pleasure, a privilege and an honour” to serve in Parliament and thanked all the Ministers and his election team for their hard work. Mr Isola joked that he was looking forward to starting work on Friday but “not too early” referring to a joke shared by the PDP’s Nick Cruz at the Chamber of Commerce dinner last week. He spoke of working with the “GSLP family” and said that it was a party that always “put Gibraltar first.” When talking about his opponents in the by-election, Mr Isola said that although he felt that they had teamed up on him during Wednesday night’s GBC debate, he still respected all of them. He called the result a “vote of confidence for the Alliance” and vowed to discharge his new duties with “effort, determination and a heart.”
Marlene Nahon, who came second for the GSD, paid tribute to the late Charles Bruzon and thanked the GSD executive and MPs for their support. She said she would help the Leader of the GSD, Daniel Feetham, to take the GSD to victory in the next general election and called her campaign an “exciting” time, highlighting that she had gained most from “hearing the concerns of the people of Gibraltar.”
Nick Cruz, for the PDP, opened by saying that his election team had worked very well. He singled out his agent Tarik El-Yabani saying that it was “great that someone so young is involved in politics.” Last week, Mr Cruz had said that the by-election represented a D-Day moment for him. If this was the case, he said jokingly, then he had “missed the beaches.” Mr Cruz said that, throughout his campaign, he had “tried to do politics in a more measured way” but that the poor result would mean that he would have to reflect on the future of the party in the next few weeks.
Bryan Zammit, the only independent candidate, called the whole experience of running for Parliament “surreal” but he admitted that, despite doing “all we could,” he was not able to make enough of an impact. He thanked his small team for their help.
