We’ve never seen an election run so smoothly, say observers

The election observation mission was formed by a team of independent, impartial and international election observers drawn from other Commonwealth nations.

They visited each of the polling stations on election day, and the super polling stations on the advanced polling days.

‘It was a very smooth, very efficient process. It’s a wonderful, fascinating experience seeing people from Guernsey participate in the democratic process,’ said head of mission Alvina Reynolds, from St Lucia.

‘The staff and volunteers made it very easy, they were enthusiastic, professional and efficient from start to finish and we really want to commend them on that.’

Mark Stevens, an election analyst from the UK, said that the election process in Guernsey was very inclusive, but there were still some gaps, and getting young people to vote is a challenge everywhere.

‘People can register from 15 onwards and vote from 16 onwards, there’s two days of advanced voting, and a postal vote option so that’s extremely inclusive. However, because the election registration is done for election-specific purposes, it doesn’t necessarily capture all of the eligible electorate, which is a bit of a gap here. That seems to particularly impact the younger age groups,’ he said.

‘Getting people to participate is a challenge everywhere, particularly young people, and if you put the numbers of those eligible to vote in Guernsey compared to that that turn out, there is clearly a gap there.

‘There’s already so many ways to vote here, it’s hard to think what more you can offer, but clearly there is still part of the electorate that needs to be encouraged to come out and participate.’

When asked what surprised them most about the Guernsey election, the team said how calm and smooth everything was, the welcoming volunteers, the manifesto booklet, as they are used to voting for parties, and how inclusive and diverse the election was.