Island-wide referendum proposals 'in the balance'

However the States' Assembly & Constitution Committee proposals are still causing a number of issues in the Assembly, with Sacc forced to submit a last-minute amendment to its own report.

This would allow for a yes/no option on full island-wide voting, but only if their preferred plan fails to get supported.

Deputies spent most of the day mired in debate on amendments to Sacc's report on a referendum, which proposes five options on the ballot paper.

It was the number of options that caused the greatest issue for members, with attempts yesterday to cut them back to two.

By mid-afternoon Sacc president Matt Fallaize bowed to the pressure and placed his own amendment, which would mean that if the five-option referendum was defeated by members, a clear yes/no vote for change could be held.

This would leave islanders choosing between keeping the current district-based system or to elect all 38 deputies in a single island-wide vote every four years.

After the debate Deputy Fallaize said he was relieved the other deputies' amendments had been rejected.

'I am very pleased the States has thrown out the idea of having a referendum on the general concept of island-wide voting,' he said.

However, he said he could not predict what the final decision would be, as four amendments still need to be debated.