States Chamber

Guernsey could have islandwide voting by 2012 as the States are being asked to approve plans to look seriously at the idea in the January 2009 meeting.

It has been discussed for a number of years now but after the election in April 2008 the States Assembly and Constitution Committee was asked to come up with some ideas which they did and published in a 27-page report.

After consulting with the public, States members and the Douzaines, they came up with eight options.

1. Keep the present system, where we vote for our politicians at the general election, with 45 seats up for grabs across seven electoral districts.
2. The present system but with fewer districts, from seven to four, with each electing around a dozen members.
3. Islandwide voting for all 45 seats in one election. In other words, your ballot paper will have every single candidate's name on it - just like Sark.
4. Islandwide voting every year, where a quarter of the seats are put up for election every twelve months. This would mean unsuccessful candidates could try and stand time and time again, year after year. The report says this option would be quite expensive to administer.
5. Islandwide voting every two years, with half the seats up for election every other year.
6. Islandwide voting for a proportion of seats only. The committee sees this as the halfway house towards full islandwide voting. It would mean around 10 to 15 seats would be offered to an islandwide vote, with 30 to 35 left as they are now.
7. Parish representation for a proportion of seats, with one seat for every parish offered for election, with the remainder voted on islandwide.
8. The Golden Vote.

The Golden vote is the most confusing of the options. When you cast your vote, you will do the usual voting for the candidates in your district. You will also get a list of the whole island's candidates and be asked to cast around 10 Golden Votes. When the counting is done, the two poll toppers in each district will become parish deputies, and then the remain 31 seats will go to the islandwide Golden Vote poll-toppers. However, if somebody who has come top in a Golden Vote and a parish vote, they would become a parish deputy, not an islandwide deputy.

There is more...

The report also looks at electronic voting, sounding a note of caution. Although technology is improving all the time, it points out the pilot schemes in Scotland, England and Wales have all had problems.

There is also a mention of hustings meetings. It points out that islandwide voting would have to change the way these work, but does recommend they continue as a useful way of maintaining two-way communication between voters and candidates.

And then there is the legal issue. As we saw with Sark any change would have to be checked carefully against the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

What is next?

This goes to the States at the end of January 2009. They are being asked to note the report and then direct the States Assembly and Constitution Committee to report in the future with more detailed proposals, with a view to get this in place before the general election in 2012.