Douzaine to ask States to consider bringing back parish deputies

This follows a suggestion by the government's Douzaine Liaison Group that the parishes might like to give their views to the States Assembly and Constitution Committee, which is reviewing the whole process.

In turn, SACC is assessing the results of a survey conducted after the Scrutiny Management Committee produced a detailed review of the first IWV in 2020 and produced eight recommendations aimed at improving subsequent elections.

It 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."

Whether the douzaine should make a comment was discussed at its June meeting and a majority of members felt that a statement was required and that a return to the previous system was needed. That should be implemented in time for the next general election in 2029.

Parish deputies wanted
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."

He added that the douzaine would release its formal comments to SACC in due course.

• The douzaine's detailed comments on island-wide voting for the 2023 review can be found here.

• In its report, Scrutiny said: "The changes introduced in the 2020 election were made as the result of a referendum in which the first or subsequent choice of 6,017 people was for a change to an island-wide electoral system with 38 deputies elected on one day, with each voter having 38 votes. 14,379 people voted in that referendum, representing a turnout of 45.1% of those registered on the electoral roll. The States had resolved to treat as binding any result of 40% or greater of the turnout, and therefore the decision to move to an island-wide electoral system had been made.