The proposal faced only one amendment, which came from Sacc itself, asking for members to approve using the Sir John Loveridge Hall instead of the Dave Ferguson Hall at Beau Sejour as a polling station.
This would provide greater operational flexibility, said committee president Sarah Hansmann-Rouxel.
In her brief opening to the debate, she thanked St Martin’s, Castel and Vale parishes for agreeing to open as ‘super polling stations’ on the day and, along with Beau Sejour, islanders would be able to vote at any of them, regardless of where they lived.
She assured States members that organisers would make every effort to contain costs to £75,000.
One member who was concerned about the amendment was Andy Cameron, who was worried about the impact of using the Sir John Loveridge Hall on groups that use it regularly. But the amendment was backed 29 votes to three.
Marc Laine’s position was already known, in that he had voiced opposition to holding the election at all and he reiterated his points early in the debate.
‘Calling an island-wide election less than a year into this term is, in my view, a poor use of public money, a poor reading of public sentiment, and a missed opportunity to show that the Assembly can manage with less,’ he said.
‘The public is frankly more likely to shrug than engage.’
His view was backed by Simon Vermeulen who said the States would be ‘crazy’ to hold a by-election. He did not think the public wanted to see the States spending money, particularly with the issue of GST looming.
Haley Camp said that people had elected 38 deputies and if the Assembly voted not to press ahead with the by-election it would result to making a constitutional change by omission. If members wanted to agree that 38 deputies were not necessary, a proposition to change the constitution should be introduced, she said.
The proposal to hold the election was approved by 24 votes to 11, and subsequent proposals regarding the £3,000 spending limit and various by-election ordinances were also approved.
How they voted
... on the proposal to hold a by-election for one deputy on Wednesday 29 April
For (24): Deputies Blin, Burford, Bury, Cameron, Camp, Collins, Curgenven, de Sausmarez, Dorrity, Falla, Gabriel, Gollop, Hansmann Rouxel, Kazantseva-Miller, Leadbeater, Matthews, Montague, Oswald, Parkinson, Rochester, Rylatt, Sloan, St Pier and Strachan.
Against (11): Deputies Helyar, Inder, Kay-Mouat, Laine, Malik, McKenna, Niles, Ozanne, Van Katwyk, Vermeulen, Williams.
Abstained: Alderney representatives Hill and Snowdon.
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