Legal issues halt parish elections

Unexpected legal issues mean that Wednesday's planned election for two new Vale douzeniers has had to be postponed.

The Registrar-General of Electors is in discussion with Law Officers on how to resolve the difficulties that have been highlighted in the elections that some parishes had intended to hold in December.

Since the Vale and another parish attempted to hold ballots for officials two problems have emerged. The first is that the Reform Law does not allow for such elections to be held in December.

Secondly, the current electoral roll closed at the end of November, before a new electoral roll is opened ahead of the 2020 General Election. The timing of the closure of the electoral roll was set for the end of November in order to allow parishes the appropriate time to conclude their own elections.

As a result, attempts – which will probably require an Ordinance setting a new date by law – are now being made to enable the elections to go ahead, although it is not known when that will be.

Meanwhile, John Niles and Victoria Robinson have expressed a willingness to stand as douzeniers and it is hoped that the problem will be resolved speedily and they can be duly elected.