Azopardi wins GSD leadership election, as both candidates put focus on unity going forward

Keith Azopardi was elected to remain as GSD leader last night, seeing off a leadership bid by Damon Bossino at the end of a “gruelling” and “difficult” internal election process that at times exposed deep divisions within the Opposition.

As the result was announced by veteran GSD MP Edwin Reyes just after 10pm on Tuesday, both candidates said the party’s focus must now be on unity and winning the next general election.

Some 418 GSD members and 30 executive members cast their votes over Monday and Tuesday, with Mr Azopardi securing 58.6% of the total and Mr Bossino winning 41.4%.

The election was by weighted voting, with 40% of the vote earmarked for the executive and 60% for the membership.

But the breakdown in each segment was not publicly revealed, although the unofficial consensus was that Mr Azopardi had taken the bulk of both the executive and membership vote.

Either way, the result suggests that both candidates had solid support among large swathes of the party, although Mr Azopardi, who first took over the leadership in 2017, won by a comfortable 17.2% lead.

The vote was held under the GSD’s constitution, which requires a leadership election to be held within 12 months of an electoral defeat.

“It's very difficult administratively to sort out all these issues, we don't do these often, but at least we are a party that does organise leadership elections,” Mr Azopardi said after the announcement of the result.

“That's a good thing for democracy and it's a good sign of political maturity given that before this was done, political parties in Gibraltar never lasted beyond the life of their leaders.”

“We are now a political party that has done several contested leadership elections, and that's a sign of our maturity and a sign of the strength and depth of the GSD.”

With an eye on restoring party harmony after an inherently divisive process that at times led to heated public exchanges - if not between the candidates themselves, between supporters in either camp – Mr Azopardi acknowledged it had been “a difficult” election.

“It's difficult because it was blue on blue action, as I have described it before,” he said, adding: “Now we need unity.”

“This is not about sides, this is about us coming together.”

“I realise that, of course, in a leadership election, people will take different views, and legitimately we back different candidates.”

“Damon and I were the top two placed candidates [in the last general election] and clearly we have our followers outside and in the party.”

“But I think it's important now that there has been a result for there to be a swing round the party and that we all work together going forward to make sure that we do become the next government, because we are now so close, closer than we have ever been.”

Mr Bossino, who addressed party members in the Charles Hunt room before Mr Azopardi after the result was confirmed, had already signalled a similar message in an elegant concession speech in which he congratulated his rival.

“I simply want to say that now we need to look forward,” he said.

“It has been a gruelling, I think, experience for many of us in both camps.”

“Things I'm sure have been said which many of us regret.”

“But I think that we need to be proud that as a political party we have had that open debate.”

“We have had a leadership election. It's in our constitution, it's in our rules.”

“Keith has won. That has to be respected. That is a democracy.”

“In democracy you need to learn how to win and you need to have the humility when you lose.”

During the leadership election campaign, Mr Azopardi had argued that Mr Bossino’s brand of conservative politics risked taking the GSD backwards.

He asked the party to back his “progressive vision” and “finish what we started”.

“Now is the time to go forward and not back,” he said during the campaign.

Conversely, Mr Bossino argued there was a need for a “natural and progressive” move to new leadership “to move on and be returned to office”.

He had argued too that Mr Azopardi lacked the deep connection to the wider community that he felt was vital to deliver an electoral win.

With the leadership election behind them, the focus now will be on how the two men will seek to bridge what Mr Azopardi had described as “a chasm” between them.

On Tuesday night though, that discussion was parked for another day.

“I think there has to be a period of reflection on both sides,” Mr Bossino said.

“But I think the focus and the aim has to be to unify and to ensure that we are the next government.”