Three previous cases of conduct vote in States

The panel found that Deputy Chris Le Tissier’s use of a Twitter account using the pseudonym The Pirate – and other names for the same account – had breached six sections of the States members’ code of conduct.

It ruled that the appropriate sanction was to expel him from the States.

It falls to a member of the States’ Assembly & Constitution Committee to lay the panel’s findings before the States.

President Carl Meerveld will be able to comment on the findings to open the debate, although yesterday he told the Guernsey Press he had not decided whether he would speak or what he would say if he did.

If members agree with the findings and vote Deputy Le Tissier out as they are being recommended to do, the vacancy would trigger a by-election.

Last term, Sacc attempted to convince politicians to agree that two vacancies must be needed before a by-election is held, but this was not successful.

Deputy Meerveld said there were two main sides to this argument.

‘On the one hand, with an island-wide election, needing two vacancies for a by-election to be held would make them less frequent – and a by-election with island-wide voting would be very expensive,’ he said.

‘But, it could mean that there is not a full Assembly for a long time, and a missing vote that the electorate is entitled to could have significant impact on voting outcomes.

‘If there was a vacancy near the start of the term and not another until right near the end, it could be almost the full four years of a term without the full number of politicians.’

A by-election with island-wide voting would cost significantly more than the parish by-elections in the past, of which there have been five in the last 20 years.

Although there will not be a need for an electronic vote count as the electorate will only cast one vote, there is likely to be many more candidates than the usual handful of four or five that stood in parish by-elections.

When asked if he thought the cost of electing someone to replace Deputy Le Tissier, if he were to be expelled, would deter some members from voting in the same way as the panel recommended, Deputy Meerveld said he did not know what factors might influence other deputies’ decisions.

‘What I can say, though, is that officers have already given consideration to a by-election and Guernsey is well prepared for a by-election if it is needed,’ he added.