Announcement imminent of GSD/Labour link, says report
Friday, May 27th, 2005The Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD) have said that GBC’s (Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation) information regarding a merger with the Gibraltar Labour Party is incorrect.
“This is in response to our request for a reaction to our story, first broadcast on Newswatch that an agreement in principle has been reached between the leaders of both parties for them to effectively merge.
Asked what precisely was incorrect in our story, a spokeswoman would not elaborate,†said GBC yesterday.
For his part, Labour leader, Daniel Feetham, said he does not comment on speculation. But GBC added:
“We have established that talks to explore the possibilities of a merger have been underway since last year, and that not everyone in either camp is in favour of it.
Insofar as the Labour Party is concerned, it prompted the resignation a couple of months ago of executive member Daniel Guerrero, who said he did not agree with the direction the party was taking.â€
At least one of the party’s eight candidates at the last General Election, Bill Pisani, is also said to be against the move and may resign if the merger is confirmed.
Reporting yesterday, Stephen Neish said that for some time now there had been speculation that the GSD and Labour would come to some form of an understanding, fuelled by the virtual silence in recent months of the previously very active Labour Party.
In April, Panorama reported that Mr Feetham wanted to join the GSD, but the party had said “no†because GSD party stalwarts were decidedly against the move, even though Peter Caruana was not.
Informed sources have told GBC however that what is being mooted is a merger, with the GSD as the dominant party.
Unlike the arrangement between the opposition alliance, where the GSLP (Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party) and the Liberal Party have retained their individual structures and executives, the GSD and Labour Party would fuse into one.
“We understand that the Labour executive has agreed to the move, although there is some discontent with the intention to leave the name of the merged party as the GSD,†said GBC.
The GSD itself is also poised to give the initiative the green light, despite the fact that there, too, some objections remain.
Political observers suggest the idea seems to have gained credence within GSD circles, following the recent Panorama opinion poll which placed it behind the GSLP/Liberals for the first time in many years, the GBC report added.
Speculation that an announcement may not be long in coming will not be diminished by the expected decision of the government to again invite Daniel Feetham to accompany Peter Caruana when he addresses the UN Special Committee of 24 (on Deconolization - C24) in New York on the 7th of June.
From Panorama, Gibraltar’s Online Daily Newspaper
Related Story:
