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Gibraltarians go to parliamentary polls today

GIBRALTAR: Some 18,000 Gibraltarians go to the polls on Thursday in parliamentary elections, with Spain's claim on the British colony relegated to a secondary issue for the first time in 30 years.

The building of a new hospital, tax cuts, school scholarships and aid to pensioners have taken precedence, for both the main parties, over self-determination for the British colony which is also claimed by Spain.

The vote pits outgoing Chief Minister Peter Caruana, 43, the favourite and leader of the Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD), against veteran Joe Bossano, 61, former chief minister and head of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP).

At the last poll four years ago, Caruana took eight of the 15 seats in parliament, ousting Bossano from a reign that began in 1988. This time, Bassano has allied himself with the small Liberal Party in a bid to return to power.

According to the opinion polls, the outgoing chief minister is the clear favourite, with a ten-point lead over the GSLP.

For the first time since the 1969 constitution was adopted, campaign issues have centred on daily life, with the issue of decolonisation demoted to a secondary issue, said Liberal Party leader Joseph Barcia, an ally of Bossano.

Bossano himself, taking time out from haranguing a sparse crowd of 100 in a new neighbourhood reclaimed from the sea, recognised the untypical nature of the upcoming election, For him "day-to-day issues" had taken the upper hand.

Caruana's campaign manager, Terry Cartwright, explained that Gibraltar's status was not an issue "because the opposition is tacitly admitting that we did the right thing".

In fact the two sides have broadly similar positions on the colony's status, which is regularly a cause of trouble between Madrid, London and Gibraltar, the last colony in Europe.

Both sides reject the idea of Spanish sovereignty over the Rock, which was ceded to Britain in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht, but with varying nuances, admit there should nonetheless be an end to British rule.

Caruana says he wants the constitution to be modified, while the opposition seeks an acceleration of decolonisation procedures.

Caruana said he thought it probable that if he was reelected on Thursday, his government would submit to London proposals for modernisation of the constitution, but without affecting "the continuity of British sovereignty".

Speaking with foreign journalists on Monday, Caruana said that "decolonisation does not necessarily mean a break with the colonial state".

He insisted that Gibraltarians wanted to stay British and to oppose Spanish claims on the territory.ÑAFP