Parishes have been invited by the government’s Douzaine Liaison Group to give their views to the States Assembly and Constitution Committee, which is reviewing the machinery of government process and assessing the results of a survey conducted after the Scrutiny Management Committee produced a detailed review of the first island-wide election in 2020. It produced eight recommendations aimed at improving subsequent elections and found that ‘island-wide voting removed the direct parish connection with elected members, and this was a significant concern for a number of respondents to the call for evidence process’.
The douzaine agreed at its meeting last month that it will make itself heard and seek to return to the previous electoral system in time for the 2029 election.
Senior constable John Niles acknowledged that there were many views on IWV, hence the douzaine’s majority view, but the feedback from parishioners and others was unambiguous – people wanted the return of parish deputies.
‘We have been clear from the outset that island-wide voting has broken an important and valuable link between parish and the States,’ he said. ‘That was our view given to the Scrutiny Management Committee in 2023 and it’s clear that parishioners’ opposition to IWV remains as strong as ever.
‘We also said at the time that island-wide voting hasn’t improved the quality of candidates or improved the States as a whole and this opinion has not been changed by recent events.’
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