Charles Bruzon was a member of the
Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP) and the Government's Housing Minister since 9 December 2011. His seat in the Gibraltar Parliament became vacant following his death on 16 April 2013 aged 74, following a long battle with illness. On 20 May 2013,
Chief Minister Fabian Picardo met with
Governor Sir
Adrian Johns at
The Convent and asked him to issue a
writ for the by-election. The Chief Minister then made the announcement in Parliament later that day calling for candidates to sign up by noon on 14 June. Picardo confirmed that the GSLP would, in alliance with the
Liberal Party field a candidate for election. He announced it would be a GSLP candidate but that the alliance would fight the election jointly. The
Gibraltar Social Democrats as
Opposition had initially decided not to contest the by-election considering instead a "gentleman's agreement" as the seat had been one of the GSLP which had become vacant under tragic circumstances. The
Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) which was not represented in Parliament immediately decided it would contest the by-election seeing it as an opportunity to be represented despite its poor performance at the previous two
general elections. The party announced, via its
Twitter account on 5 June 2013, that it had chosen former Chief Minister
Joshua Hassan's daughter
Marlene Hassan-Nahon, as its candidate. The GSLP chose former Member of the then House of Assembly
Albert Isola, son of former Leader of the Opposition
Peter Isola, as the party's candidate on 9 June 2013. The final candidate to sign up on 12 June 2013 was independent Bryan Zammit. ==Opinion polls==