Rolling elections favoured by critics of island-wide voting

But only if it is replaced by rolling elections under which the public would still vote island wide, but for one-third of deputies’ seats every two years.

‘Some people favour elections for half of the assembly every two or three years, but in my view this would be a fudge,’ said Scrutiny president Yvonne Burford.

‘The candidate list would likely be closer to 50-60 people, in which case it again becomes difficult to make informed choices and the modification brings very limited benefits.’

Long-time adversaries Gavin St Pier and Peter Ferbrache have joined forces to propose an urgent investigation into rolling elections and a States debate on the issue this summer.

Deputy Burford believed their amendment, which they hope will be debated later this month, would investigate modifying rather than ripping up the system of island-wide voting used for the first time in 2020, under which all 38 deputies were elected on the same day from a list of nearly 120 candidates.

But she could see only one way of modifying the system successfully, having spent months studying the issue last year.

‘It stems from the conclusion in the Scrutiny report, informed by nearly 1,500 islanders in a comprehensive survey, that while many people like being able to vote for any candidate, hardly anyone wants to try to assess over 100 candidates in one go.

‘The concluding analysis in the report is that the optimum way to address this particular dilemma, while realising that no solution is perfect, is to elect one-third of deputies every two years for a six-year term.

‘The candidate list would probably ultimately settle down to about 30-35 people – a much more manageable number for voters – and it would even allow a return to

hustings, perhaps divided into three sessions.’

Deputy Ferbrache campaigned for the present voting system when there was a referendum in October 2018.

‘I was the man who would go around and bang the drum for it, but we might not have got it right just yet,’ he said.

He remained open-minded about which reforms to the system would improve it most. He hoped a way could be found to recover some of the advantages which he said had been ‘lost’ in the move to island-wide voting in its current form.

Deputy Ferbrache said the next general election, in June 2025, should use the same format as the previous one, in October 2020, even if rolling elections for half or one-third of seats were introduced from 2027 onwards.

Deputy Simon Fairclough, who also sat on last year’s review of the system, would also back a move to electing one-third of seats every two years.

‘I think that would be an improvement on what we’ve got now and it could be implemented relatively easily,’ he said.

‘There is no perfect system of election. I’m attracted to a third being elected every two years because it would provide a balance between continuity and change.

‘Of course, there are downsides, including holding elections every two years and the additional costs.’

Deputy Fairclough admitted that he was not sure if such a change should be put to another referendum.

He could think of only one viable way of transitioning to his preferred system – electing all deputies on one day in 2025, with the final third in that poll having a two-year term, the middle third serving for four years, and the highest-polling third sitting for six years.

‘I think that would be the only fair way of doing it. I don’t think the public would buy drawing lots to see who serves two, four or six years,’ he said.