Parishes Against Island Wide Voting

A hearing to gather evidence on the effectiveness of Guernsey's new electoral system hears that the parishes feel cut off.

A referendum held in 2018 saw a majority vote for an island-wide electoral system, with the first election in October 2020 seeing a 70% plus turnout.

The Scrutiny Management Committee is gathering evidence for a soon to be published review of the system and is staging two hearings for those who took part in the evidence-gathering process.

The mood at the first was mainly against the island wide system.

The former Mother of the House, Mary Lowe, told the panel she wouldn't vote for the system again.

Richard Digard, a Vale parish official and former Press editor said it had severed the link between the parishes and deputies:

"You had a real interest in the parish, because you were appealing to the people who lived in that parish or district to support you and get you into the States. That link has gone. That emotional attachment, that electoral dependency on the parish has gone."

He said an island-wide mandate had left some parishioners at a loss about who to approach if they needed help from a deputy:

"Now it's, well what do we do? In the Vale's case we see a lot of this stuff coming through the website and social media and people are casting around for a focal point, for somebody who is going to express an interest in the problems they've got." 

Deputy Sue Aldwell got a seat at the last election and had come up through the parish system, as a senior constable for Torteval:

"I don't think we have anyone in the upper parishes or any parish that likes island-wide voting. Having spoken to all the constables, they'd all like to go to parish or district or a hybrid."

Shelaine Green represents the pressure group Women in Public Life. She gave evidence to the panel and said the 2020 election had failed to deliver on diversity:

"Things contracted. Fewer women, fewer older people, fewer younger people and an increased number of men in their 50s and 60s."

Former deputy Peter Gilson said the island-wide system had certainly encouraged a big voter turnout for a record number of candidates:

"Probably a novelty value, a new system. So I think people thought it was easier to get elected island-wide, than parochial. I suspect at the next election there'll be fewer candidates."

The second evidence gathering session is tomorrow (4 October) at the Castel Douzaine room. The Scrutiny Panel Review will be published in November.