New Gibraltar Democracy

New Gibraltar Democracy
Leader	Charles Gomez
Ideology	Christian democracy
International affiliation	None
European affiliation	None

Gibraltar

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New Gibraltar Democracy (NGD) is a political party from Gibraltar founded in 2005 by Gibraltarian barrister Charles Gomez.

Overview

New Gibraltar Democracy is a Christian democratic party. It aims to impose strict rules of public accountability and openness on the Gibraltarian political system which, it claims favours the narrow economic interests of a few friends and relations of the party in government at the expense of the majority of citizens and, in particular of the weak in society.

According to the NGD, successive Gibraltar governments have used the Spanish claim, which is almost unanimously resisted by Gibraltarians, including NGD, to mask incompetence, lack of ideas and nepotism at local level.

Electoral Performance

NGD stood just one candidate in the 2007 General Election, its leader Charles Gomez. He polled 1210 votes, in an electorate of just over 14,000. This is the best performance for a first time independent candidate in Gibraltar's history.^[1]

Ethos

NGD argues that in a small place like Gibraltar town planning and quality of life issues are particularly important. It says that the government allows the construction of ugly, 1960's style high rise buildings which are making the town unattractive and impersonal. It attributes increasing crime and social problems on the government's neglect of the physical and social fabric of Gibraltar.

The party considers that the new constitution agreed between the British and Gibraltar governments in June 2006 and passed in early 2007 undermines the principle of judicial independence. It advocates a process of constitutional improvement to ensure that there are sufficient checks and balances on the local government which it says now has wider powers vis a vis the public than any other similar administration in Europe (including most autonomous governments in other Member States).

Although at a referendum held on the 30th November 2006 only 36% of the electorate approved the new constitution the Gibraltar government insists that it has a mandate to change Gibraltar's fundamental law. NGD accuses the local government of having failed to meet basic requirements of fairness and democracy in the oragnisation of the referendum, which lacked any formal regulation. It also charges the government with having interfered in the coverage of the campaign by the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation and of having used taxpyers' money to partially fund the campaign for the approval of the new constitution.

In the General Election held on the 11th October 2007 the NGD candidate Charles Gomez obtained votes from 7.8% of the electorate. Although this did not allow for a seat in Parliament the result is deemed a good one for a first attempt to break into Gibraltar's traditional two party system. Gomez had campaigned on issues ranging from economic and planning mismanagement to pollution and lack of transparency in the administration as well as neglect of the vulnerable sectors of Gibraltarian society.

References

1. ^ http://www.gibfocus.gi/details_headlines.php?id=1928

External links

• A selection of NGD policy statements can be found on gibnews.net