Candidate Primary Election

Together Gibraltar will be holding a candidate primary election in the coming weeks to allow our membership to vote on which candidates they would like to represent them in the coming election.

The primaries will be open to the entire membership, so if you believe you have what it takes to be a candidate in the coming election, now is the time to make a stand.

This measure, approved unanimously by our executive, delivers on Together Gibraltar’s promise of bringing a different style of politics to our community. A style that is truly democratic, open, transparent and that, crucially, promotes and encourages participation from all segments of society. We do this because we believe that politics has to be opened up to the citizens of Gibraltar in order to solve the problem of representation that our democracy suffers. We do this in the hope that our members will choose a slate that will reflect the real make up of our society, and not just a handful of wealthy lawyers and economic elites. We do this because we believe that increased participation and better representation will allow us to create a political agenda that truly meets the general needs and hopes of our community.

As from today, the primary elections are open to all members of Together Gibraltar who wish to postulate themselves as potential candidates for the coming election. In order to do so, they will have to communicate their wishes to the party in the following 10 days, before the 12th of august, which will mark the deadline for candidacy entries. From that moment onwards, all CURRENT members  will have the opportunity to deposit their vote via email or in person in the Together Gibraltar offices in 230 Main street, for the period of 10 days. We will still allow new memberships, but in order to preserve the fairness and cleanliness of the election only those signed up before TODAY (2/8/2019) will be able to vote on these primaries. Offices will remain open throughout the voting period for that purpose, in the time windows between 9 and 12 in the morning and 6 and 9 in the evening on all working days.

TIMELINE

The timeline is therefore set out as follows:

  • PRIMARY ELECTION ANNOUNCED - TODAY (2 AUGUST)

  • DEADLINE FOR POTENTIAL CANDIDATES - 9pm 11th AUGUST

  • OPENING OF BALLOT - 9am 12 AUGUST

  • CLOSURE OF BALLOT - 9pm 21 AUGUST

  • Final results will be announced on the 22nd of August.

CAMPAIGN AND MEDIA EXPOSURE

In order to guarantee basic exposure for all candidates, TG media services will provide a platform for all candidates to promote their primary pitches. A campaign video will be provided, free of charge, and each candidate will be allowed to publish a written pitch of a maximum of 1000 words in all Together Gibraltar Social media outlets. Other means of campaigning will be allowed, but will have to be sourced and organised by each candidate independently.

The campaign video will be in Interview format, all candidates being subjected to the exact same 3 questions:

  • Do you believe your background has prepared you to become a political candidate?

  • Why are you the right person to represent Together Gibraltar in the coming election?

  • What is your vision for the future of Gibraltar?

VOTING SYSTEM 

Members will choose 10 candidates from the final list, singling out their choice for leader and the remaining 9 candidates in order of preference. The ballot would therefore look as follows - you will have copies of this text and a visual representation of the future ballot.

ON POTENTIAL PARLIAMENT REFORM

We would also like to take this opportunity to address the plans for democratic reform that the Government has been promoting of late, seemingly with the support of the rest of Opposition. We believe this reform would be wholly inefficient in tackling the democratic deficits that exist in our system - a system that systematically provides blanket majorities that exercise absolute power - while continuing to inflate the cost of our democratic system. We believe that the last thing Gibraltar needs is more ineffective MP’s and bigger parliamentary theatrics of little or no substance. We also believe that the move would be extremely unpopular amongst those who will have to shoulder the cost of this unnecessary change - the Gibraltar taxpayer.

We hope the Government has the sense not to implement such an unpopular and ineffective move at the 11th hour, however, if they were to go ahead with these plans, we would make a simple adjustment and extend the number of candidates to accommodate the change.

PERSONAL MESSAGE

On a more personal note, we would like to send out a message of hope and courage to the membership. From the start, one of our most important missions has been to promote those collectives in our community who are not being fairly represented by the political system, and I hope we have created a platform in which all members can feel supported and empowered.

The doors of Together Gibraltar are open to all of you.

Together Gibraltar