Gibraltar House of Assembly
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Template:Politics of Gibraltar The Gibraltar House of Assembly is the legislature of the British territory of Gibraltar, which consists primarily of the Rock of Gibraltar, the northern side of the Strait of Gibraltar which is the passage between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
This unicameral body consists of fifteen members elected by vote of the Gibraltarian people and two appointed members, including the Attorney-General. The body is mandated by Gibraltar's 1969 constitution. The term "House of Assembly" has been commonly used for the legislatures of British terrories that are less than fully sovereign.
In the current election system, each voter is allowed to vote for eight members of the Assembly. Due to the small area of Gibraltar and its territorial continuity, precincts serve only as polling places, not political units and there are no electoral districts served by the members, who are instead elected "at large" to serve the territory as a whole. The system lends itself to block voting -- each of the parties or electoral coalitions tends to nomimate a slate of eight candidates and encourage its supporters to vote for all of them. In practice, the winning side gets all of its nominees elected, with the other seven coming from the second-place side (currently a two-party coalition).
The current system is considered to be ripe for reform. Just as the first (current) constitution was granted two years after Gibraltarians voted almost unanimously (99%+) to remain affiliated with Britain, a new draft constitution has been proposed two years after the populace voted again in a second referendum with a similar margin against changing to a system of joint British-Spanish sovereignty. Under this proposed reform, the legislature would no longer have its balance of power in the hands of two appointed ex officio members.