Time demanded requete be filed
NICK MANN writes that the requete on island-wide voting faces an uphill battle partly because I would not wait for the report on the machinery of government. The reason for this was because the deputy chief minister expressed the view that, at this late stage, it might not be possible to have island-wide voting at the next election, even if the requete is successful. This was not the view of Sacc but did make the debate more urgent.
As Nick says, a majority of Assembly members and the electorate say they are in favour of island-wide elections but the issue always falls because of a lack of agreement on the way forward.
It seems to me that the only way of proceeding is to start with a simple system. Here I disagree with Nick. What I am proposing is the simplest system. We would elect all of the deputies at one election and electors would be able to cast up to 45 votes.
There would not be a problem if there were 80 or 100 candidates. Most electors would concentrate on voting for a few candidates. In fact, for the votes cast to be most effective, the voter should only vote for candidates they really wanted to be elected. Votes cast for less desirable candidates are also votes against their favoured candidates.
Should the requete succeed, Sacc would be tasked with bringing forward proposals regarding hustings, literature distribution, counting etc. and I am sure they would do an excellent job.
A simple system like this will not be affected in any way by a change in the system of government or a reduction in the number of deputies.
If members of the Assembly move amendments to bring in a hybrid system or any other change to complicate the elections they face a long debate and yet again fail to deliver what the people of Guernsey clearly desire.
DEPUTY MIKE HADLEY,
La Rocque,
La Bouvee,
St Martin's, GY4 6BQ.
