2007 Gibraltar general election

General elections were held in Gibraltar on 11 October 2007.^[1] The incumbent Chief Minister Peter Caruana narrowly won a fourth term, but opposition leader Joe Bossano had a very strong showing.^[2][3] Joe Bossano noted that this would be his last term as an MP,^[4] and joked that he would not join the government, despite receiving a higher personal vote than some members of the Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD).

2007 Gibraltar general election

← 2003 11 October 2007 2011 →
All 17 seats in the Gibraltar Parliament 9 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Peter Caruana Joe Bossano (GSLP) Party Social Democrats Alliance Last election 51.45%, 8 seats 39.69%, 7 seats Seats won 10 7 Seat change 2 Popular vote 76,334 70,397 Percentage 49.33% 45.49% Swing 2.12pp 5.80pp
Chief Minister before election Peter Caruana Gibraltar Social Democrats Elected Chief Minister Peter Caruana Social Democrats

The GSD had ten candidates (all of whom were elected), Bossano's party the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP) had seven candidates (four of whom were elected) and the Liberal Party of Gibraltar (LPG) led by Dr. Joseph Garcia had three candidates (all of whom were elected). The Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) fielded six candidates, five of whom obtained the fewest votes in the election after a lacklustre campaign. Two independents were unable to break through Gibraltar's party block vote system but did relatively well. They were the right wing lawyer Charles Gomez of New Gibraltar Democracy and Richard Martinez of the Parental Support Group.

An exit poll organised by the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) gave victory to the GSLP/Liberal coalition, but as counting progressed this proved incorrect.

Party slogans and election logos

Party or alliance		Slogan
	GSD	"You know you can trust the GSD"
	GSLP/Libs Alliance	"Looking after all our PEOPLE!"
	Progressive Democratic Party	"A Fresh Start"
	Charles Gomez (NGD)
	Richard Martinez (Parents Support Group)

Incumbent MPs (from 2003)

MP		Party	Seeking re-election?	Parliamentary role(s)
	Peter Caruana (since 1991)[a]	GSD	Yes	Chief Minister (since 1996)
	Joseph Holliday (since 1996)	GSD	Yes	Minister for Trade, Industry, and Communications (2003–2004) Minister for Trade, Industry, Employment and Communications (2004–2007)
	Bernard Linares (since 1996)	GSD	No	Minister for Education, Employment and Training (2003–2004) Minister for Education, Training, Civic and Consumer Affairs (2004–2007)
	Ernest Britto (since 1996)	GSD	Yes	Minister for Health (2003–2007)
	Jaime Netto (since 1996)	GSD	Yes	Minister for Housing (2003–2004) Minister for the Environment (2004–2007)
	Fabian Vinet (since 2003)	GSD	Yes	Minister for the Environment, Roads and Utilities (2003–2004) Minister for Heritage, Culture, Youth and Sport (2004–2007)
	Clive Beltran (since 2003)	GSD	Yes	Minister for Heritage, Culture, Youth and Sport (2003–2004) Minister for Housing (2004–2007)
	Yvette Del Agua (since 2000)	GSD	Yes	Minister for Social and Civic Affairs (2003–2004) Minister for Social Affairs (2004–2007)
	Joe Bossano (since 1972)	GSLP–Liberal Alliance (GSLP) (since 1980)	Yes	Leader of the Opposition (since 1996) Founder and Leader of GSLP (since 1980) Leader of Alliance (since 2000)
	Joseph Garcia (since 1999)[b]	GSLP–Liberal Alliance (LPG)	Yes	Shadow Minister for Trade, Industry, Tourism and Heritage Leader of LPG (since 1991)
	Fabian Picardo (since 2003)	GSLP–Liberal Alliance (GSLP)	Yes	Shadow Minister for Justice and Public Service Reform
	Charles Bruzon (since 2003)	GSLP–Liberal Alliance (GSLP)	Yes	Shadow Minister for Housing
	Steven Linares (since 2000)	GSLP–Liberal Alliance (LPG)	Yes	Shadow Minister for Education and Youth
	Maria Montegriffo (since 1984)	GSLP–Liberal Alliance (GSLP)	No	Shadow Minister for Social Services and Health
	Lucio Randall (since 2003)	GSLP–Liberal Alliance (GSLP)	Yes	Shadow Minister for Environment and Utilities

Results

Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Gibraltar Social Democrats			76,334	49.33	10	+2
	Alliance		Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party	49,277	31.84	4	–1
			Liberal Party of Gibraltar	21,120	13.65	3	+1
		Total		70,397	45.49	7	0
	Progressive Democratic Party			5,799	3.75	0	New
	New Gibraltar Democracy			1,210	0.78	0	New
	Independents			1,003	0.65	0	New
Total				154,743	100.00	17	0
Total votes				16,004	–
Registered voters/turnout				19,660	81.40
Source: Parliament, Parliament

By candidates

Candidate		Party	Alliance	Votes	Notes
	Peter Caruana	GSD	-	8333	Elected
	Fabian Vinet	GSD	-	7810	Elected
	Jaime Netto	GSD	-	7755	Elected
	Ernest Britto	GSD	-	7669	Elected
	Joseph Holliday	GSD	-	7666	Elected
	Clive Beltran	GSD	-	7642	Elected
	Joseph Bossano	GSLP	GSLP-Liberal Alliance	7561	Elected
	Yvette Del Agua	GSD	-	7422	Elected
	Daniel Feetham	GSD	-	7419	Elected
	Fabian Picardo	GSLP	GSLP-Liberal Alliance	7376	Elected
	Luis Montiel	GSD	-	7347	Elected
	Edwin Reyes	GSD	-	7271	Elected
	Joseph Garcia	LPG	GSLP-Liberal Alliance	7225	Elected
	Gilbert Licudi	GSLP	GSLP-Liberal Alliance	7149	Elected
	Charles Bruzon	GSLP	GSLP-Liberal Alliance	7049	Elected
	Neil Costa	LPG	GSLP-Liberal Alliance	6999	Elected
	Steven Linares	LPG	GSLP-Liberal Alliance	6896	Elected
	Paul Balban	GSLP	GSLP-Liberal Alliance	6782
	Maribel Chellaram Hathiramani	GSLP	GSLP-Liberal Alliance	6688
	Lucio Randall	GSLP	GSLP-Liberal Alliance	6672	Unseated
	Keith Azopardi	PDP	-	2163
	Charles Gomez	NGD (Independent Candidate)	-	1210
	Richard Martinez	Independent (Parents Support Group)	-	1003
	Nick Cruz	PDP	-	908
	Gavin Gafan	PDP	-	711
	Rosemarie Peach	PDP	-	684
	Moira Walsh	PDP	-	674
	Giselle Sene	PDP	-	659

Notes

1. Elected in 1991 by-election after the resignation of former AACR MP and Founder and first GSD Leader, Peter Montegriffo. He had beaten his opponent, AACR's Douglas Henrich (2496 vs 1542 votes).
2. Elected in 1999 by-election after the death of elected GSLP MP and Shadow Minister & former Mayor of Gibraltar, Robert Mor