Gibraltar Parliament

Gibraltar

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The Gibraltar Parliament is the legislature of the British territory of Gibraltar. Between 1969 and 2006 it was called the Gibraltar House of Assembly.

The parliament building

This unicameral body consisted of fifteen members elected by vote of the Gibraltar electorate. The now obsolete House of Assembly also contained two appointed members, including the Attorney-General. This body was mandated by Gibraltar's 1969 constitution. The term "House of Assembly" has been commonly used for the legislatures of British territories that are less than fully sovereign. Its replacement institution being called a parliament reflects the increased autonomy that Gibraltar has gained with its new 2006 constitution.

Under the election system, each voter was allowed to vote for eight members of the Assembly. Due to the small area of Gibraltar and its territorial continuity, precincts served only as polling places, not political units and there are no electoral districts served by the members, who were instead elected "at large" to serve the territory as a whole.

The Chamber

The system lends itself to block voting -- each of the parties or electoral coalitions tended to nominate a slate of eight candidates and encourage its supporters to vote for all of them. In most cases, the winning party would have all eight of its nominees elected, with the other seven elected members coming from the second-place party.

The Parliament sits in a building overlooking Main Street and John Mackintosh Square. It was constructed in 1817 and previously served as the Exchange and Commercial Library. It was opened on 28 August 1969 by the then Governor Admiral Varyl Begg ^[1]

Latest election

Summary of the 11 October 2007 Gibraltar Parliament election results |- !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan=2 align=left valign=top width=350 |Parties !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Votes¹ !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|% !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Seats |- |align=left colspan=2| Gibraltar Social Democrats |align="right" | 76,334 |align="right" | 49.33 |align="right" | 10 |- |align=left rowspan=2 | Coalition |align=left| Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party |align="right" | 49,277 |align="right" | 31.84 |align="right" | 4 |- |align=left| Gibraltar Liberal Party |align="right" | 21,120 |align="right" | 13.65 |align="right" | 3 |- |align="left" colspan=2 | Progressive Democratic Party |align="right" | 5,799 |align="right" | 3.75 |align="right" | — |- |align=left colspan=2 | Charles Gómez (independent) |align="right" | 1,210 |align="right" | 0.78 |align="right" | — |- |align=left colspan=2 | Richard Martínez (independent) |align="right" | 1,003 |align="right" | 0.65 |align="right" | — |- |align=left style="background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan=2 |Total (turnout 81.4%) |width="75" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|154,743 |width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.00 |width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|17 |- |align=left colspan=5|Source: Gibfocus

¹ Under the Gibraltarian electoral system, every voter has up to ten votes. Thus, only 16,004 people actually voted. |}

See also

• Gibraltar Constitution Order 2006
• Gibraltarian constitutional referendum, 2006

References

External links

• Draft government legislation replacing references to "House of Assembly" with "Gibraltar Parliament"
• Gibraltar Parliament Homepage (out of date)
• Vox article on new Parliament

Gibraltar-related topics
History	Battle of Gibraltar · Treaty of Utrecht · Great Siege of Gibraltar · Military history of Gibraltar during World War II · Gibraltarian real · Death on the Rock · Aurora incident · George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield · Explosion of the RFA Bedenham · George Rooke · Moorish Castle · Pillars of Hercules · History of the Maltese in Gibraltar
Politics and economy	Governor · Chief Minister · Parliament · Political parties · Elections (2006 constitutional referendum) · Disputed status · Gibraltar Constitution Order 2006 · Gibraltarian pound
Flora and fauna	Gibraltar Barbary Macaques · List of birds of Gibraltar · List of mammals in Gibraltar · Gibraltar candytuft
Symbols	Flag · Coat of arms · Gibraltar Anthem
Demographics	Demographics of Gibraltar · Languages of Gibraltar · Llanito
Religion	History of the Jews in Gibraltar · Roman Catholicism · Hinduism · Cathedral of the Holy Trinity · St Andrew's Church · Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned · Ibrahim-al-Ibrahim Mosque · Great Synagogue
Food and drink	Gibraltarian cuisine

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