British territory: Gibraltar's head of government announces elections ahead of Brexit appointment

Gibraltar's Prime Minister Fabian Picardo has announced new elections for next month and dissolved the parliament. Six weeks before Britain's planned withdrawal from the EU, Picardo's move was to use "strong leadership" to tackle the upcoming Brexit episodes. He wanted to make sure of that.

The parliamentary elections in the British territory are to take place on the 17th of October, according to the will of the head of government.

Gibraltar is a peninsula in the south of Spain, where around 30,000 people live. It has been part of Britain since 1713, but is being reclaimed from Madrid to the present day. In the UK referendum on a possible exit from the EU in 2016, the people of Gibraltar overwhelmingly voted in favor of remaining in the EU. The Gibraltar question has repeatedly caused trouble in the subsequent Brexit talks between London and Brussels (read more here).

Gibraltar holds parliamentary elections every four years, in 2015 it was last elected. The next elections should take place regularly anyway before the end of the year - but so far no date has been set.

Election date on the day of the EU summit

"Gibraltar needs determined and strong leadership to enter the Brexit negotiations, especially when there are elections in the UK, and possibly later in Spain," said Picardo, who was elected in 2015 for a second term. "We do not want to leave the European Union, but if we go, however we go, we are ready."

There has never been a moment in the history of Gibraltar in which the election of the political leadership was more important, said the head of government. The parliamentary elections he calls for coincide with the start of a two-day EU summit in Brussels, which could be the last chance for an agreement between the UK and the EU on an orderly exit.