|  Following seven years of behind-the-scenes negotiations, the citizens of Gibraltar have backed a new Constitution that leaves British sovereignty unchanged with 60.2% (7,299) voting in favour and 37.75% (4,574) against in yesterday's referendum.
Turnout of around 60% was low, however, compared to the 87.92% that turned out for a referendum in 2002 for a highly unpopular Carta Magna that proposed shared sovereignty with Spain.
Social Democrat (GSD) party leader and Gibraltar's chief minister, Peter Caruana (photo), is claiming that the result is not only a victory for his party, but also for the whole of Gibraltar.
The vote to approve the colony's previous Constitution back in 1969 directly led to fascist dictator, Francisco Franco, closing the border with Gibraltar, seriously damaging already strained diplomatic relations with the UK. |
