GIBRALTAR (AFP) – Fabian Picardo has been re-elected as leader of Gibraltar, official results showed yesterday, after his centre-left alliance narrowly won an election in the tiny British overseas territory.
This is the fourth consecutive time Picardo has won elections in the enclave on Spain’s southern tip as the candidate of a coalition between his party, the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP), and the smaller Liberal Party.
Picardo has been chief minister – which in Gibraltar is head of government – since 2011.
His alliance got 49.9 per cent of the vote during Thursday’s election to secure nine of the 17 seats at stake in Gibraltar’s Parliament, the assembly said on its website, down from 52.5 per cent and 10 seats in the last election in 2019.
During the campaign, the 51-year-old barrister had warned that talks on a deal settling the territory’s ties with the European Union (EU) and its neighbour Spain following Brexit would suffer a setback if his alliance was ousted from power.
“Do you really think that what you want to do on Friday is wake up to a new negotiating team on the most complex negotiation that Gibraltar has been involved in its history?” he asked in one of his final campaign appearances in the territory which is home to around 34,000 people.
Gibraltar, which has a land border with Spain, has been in limbo since Britain’s withdrawal from the EU in 2020 left it outside the bloc’s customs union and without guaranteed free movement of people. Under a temporary agreement, Spain has granted free border passage to workers and tourists to avoid disruption, but this could be rescinded at any time.
The talks are aimed at agreeing a common travel area between Gibraltar and the Schengen passport-free zone, which covers most of the EU’s member states.
