Polls in Gibraltar election race suggest closest result since 1996

Candidates of the three parties running in Gibraltar's general elections underscored the high turnout at the polling booths, where long lines since first thing in the morning indicated that turnout in this community of 22,157 residents could reach last year's 80-percent rate.

Although the outcome of the vote was not due until 6am Friday, polls suggested that Fabian Picardo, leader of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party/Liberals coalition, would win by a small margin over Peter Caruana, head of the Gibraltar Social Democrats and Chief Minister since 1996. This election has been described as the closest contest in decades by Gibraltarian media.

If both main parties were to obtain similar results, the minority Progressive Democratic Party, led by Keith Azopardi, could hold the key to government.

But Picardo, who has campaigned on a "time for change" slogan, did not seem inclined to such an alliance. "I get along very well with Keith Azopardi and I really enjoy talking politics with him, but I would not like to govern with him," he said.

Caruana admitted the difficulty of obtaining a fifth mandate in such a small community.