Not about electoral appeal, it’s about delivery 

By Robert Vasquez 

The next general election will not be about the leader who has “the widest electoral appeal”, as suggested by Nigel Feetham, a future candidate for the leadership of the GSLP.  

It will be more about the party which will produce a plan for Gibraltar’s good governance and for public finances to work efficiently and to give value for money.  

They are failings in which Mr Feetham has been involved, as a member of the GSLP-Liberal Government, despite his attempts at distancing himself from those. 

The GSLP will need to sustain its core vote, but that is not overly problematical. The core vote will remain irrespective of whether Gemma Arias Vasquez is leader of the GSLP, or Mr Feetham is.  

She will get all the support necessary from past leaders to ensure that.  

She will get support from female voters too. If the GSLP-Liberals form the next government, she will be Gibraltar’s first female Chief Minister. 

Mr Feetham’s admission that he is not a career politician will not inspire confidence or support either. 

The GSLP-Liberals recouping votes lost to the GSD is a more difficult exercise.  

It is not down to personalities. It is down to policies, because the GSLP-Liberals will have lost those votes due to public disagreement with events undertaken by them in Government.  

They are new or corrective policies that the current GSLP-Liberal Government will have to put in place well before the election.  

Those will not be either for Mr Feetham or Ms Arias Vasquez to take credit for, as the leader will still be Fabian Picardo.  

Those recouped votes will go to the GSLP-Liberals whomsoever is the leader at the next general election, be it Ms Arias Vasquez or Mr Feetham.  

The party leadership is for the GSLP members to decide in the internal leadership election, despite that Mr Feetham seems to have embarked on a very wide public campaign already. 

In addition, for the GSLP-Liberals to win, much will depend on the GSD leadership and candidature at the next general election.  

If the GSD does not improve its game, many will not go out and vote. Even the GSLP news publication, the “New People”, advises that, contrary to its own party affiliation. 

A low turnout at the next general election favours the GSLP-Liberals, due to the size of the GSLP core vote, whomsoever might be their party leader. 

Mr Feetham claims that he “wants to deliver a vision for the people of Gibraltar” which requires that he be Chief Minister, as that will “then put [him] in a position … [to] have also responsibility for the public finances of Gibraltar.”  

Further, he denies responsibility for how the GSLP-Liberal Government is spending public money presently. 

He has both vision and responsibility already, surely, as a member of the Cabinet, or is he confirming that we have a presidential style of government, rather than a democratic elected collective system? 

He admits to his GSLP-Liberal Government failing, by his clearly committing to tightening the spending reins and taking “a hard look at where we want to be as a community in a 10-year time horizon.”  

He should be doing that now, surely, as a member of the Government. He cannot divorce himself from the current acts of the Government. 

He does not explain how, nor does he enlarge on how, he will deal with the electoral difficulties arising from the McGrail Inquiry or Principal Auditor’s reports, which he foresees. It seems, at least, that he sees difficulties, despite Mr Picardo’s fervent denials. 

He makes a passing reference, also, to dealing with how the GSLP-Liberal Government fails to manage financial waste and abuse, which indicates an element of admission of the GSLP-Liberal Government, of which he is part, falling short.  

Is that why he distances himself from how his GSLP-Liberal Government spends public money now? 

Overall, it is not a very hopeful picture that he paints of the GSLP-Liberal administration that he is part of. 

 Would it not be best if he were to air those internal party differences internally in what is a party decision, namely who will be leader? 

The indications are that Mr Feetham is running a general election campaign already. That is simply wrong, when what is in play is an internal GSLP election. 

 Robert Vasquez, KC, is a retired barrister and political commentator. He stood as an independent candidate at the last general election on a platform of democratic reform.