The 1967 Gibraltar sovereignty referendum returned a 99.6% vote in favor of remaining under British rule — one of the most lopsided democratic results in modern colonial history. Spain's response was to seal the border completely in 1969, a closure that held for thirteen years. This coin commemorates that vote at a moment, 1993, when the question of sovereignty was hardly settled: Spain and Britain were still locked in Brussels Process negotiations, and Gibraltar's political future remained a live diplomatic irritant.
The 1967 Gibraltar sovereignty referendum returned a 99.6% vote in favor of remaining under British rule — one of the most lopsided democratic results in modern colonial history. Spain's response was to seal the border completely in 1969, a closure that held for thirteen years. This coin commemorates that vote at a moment, 1993, when the question of sovereignty was hardly settled: Spain and Britain were still locked in Brussels Process negotiations, and Gibraltar's political future remained a live diplomatic irritant.