Statement to States Members regarding Island Wide Voting
I am grateful, Sir, for this opportunity to clarify the Committee's position in relation to the policy letter it is preparing on the referendum which is to be held on the method of electing Deputies.
Mainly I want to be clear about one thing: the Committee will fulfil the States' resolutions on this matter and it will do so in a timely manner.
The key resolution is a matter of fact: from 2020 all deputies are to be elected on an island-wide basis in a single election on one day provided that method of election is first approved by the people of Guernsey in a referendum.
It has been suggested that the resolution allows for the Committee to propose to the States nothing other than a referendum which features this one method of election only. This view relies on an unusually prescriptive and quite bizarre interpretation of the status of States' resolutions. I fear that government in this island will soon grind to a halt if it is now to be assumed that committees cannot do anything - even on issues which fall within their mandates - unless they have been told to do so by the States.
But, in any event, anyone who may be inclined to take such a view will be pleased to know that the propositions which the Committee will shortly submit for debate will allow the States, if they so wish and without the need for any amendments, to agree the details of a referendum solely on the question of whether all deputies should be elected on an island-wide basis in a single election on one day.
A yes/no referendum on one method of election only, while perhaps superficially attractive, would have significant weaknesses. A 'yes' vote would be clear enough, but a 'no' vote would be as clear as mud. Debate would continue about whether the public had implicitly endorsed the current method of election or simply rejected the only alternative on offer and about whether a different electoral system would have been chosen had it been allowed on the ballot paper. Some cynics would accuse the States of having tried to manipulate the outcome in favour of the status quo by offering voters only the purest or most extreme (depending on one's view) form of island-wide voting. Quite unnecessarily voters would be denied the chance to express their views on other methods of election despite previous research showing that public opinion on the subject is very diverse.
A yes/no referendum on the concept of island-wide voting - rather than on any one particular method of election - would be even worse. A 'no' vote would perhaps, but not necessarily, be an endorsement of the status quo, but a 'yes' vote would provide no clarity about which of the many forms of island-wide was preferred. 'Yes' voters would inevitably disagree with each other, the decision would have to be passed back to the States who have already spent decades unable to reach a settled view, and the referendum would leave nobody any the wiser. A more pointless exercise it is difficult to imagine.
Adopting a more conventional view of States' resolutions, while the resolution clearly requires a referendum to be held on whether all deputies should be elected on an island-wide basis in a single election on one day, equally clearly the last States did not resolve that the Committee should be precluded from proposing to the States that the referendum should allow the people of Guernsey to express their views on other methods of election also.
Therefore, in its policy letter, the Committee will unanimously recommend offering the people of Guernsey a proper and fair choice between five different methods of electing deputies. The Committee will recommend using preferential and transferable voting in the referendum: voters will rank the options in their order of preference and the 'winning' option will have secured the broad endorsement of the public. Preferential voting is used in many parts of the world and has been used successfully in referendums.
The five methods of election which the Committee will recommend for inclusion on the ballot paper at the referendum are as follows:
- Under this option there would be one island-wide electoral district. Each voter would have 38 votes at each election. Each Deputy would serve for four years. An election would be held every four years for all Deputies at once.
- Under this option there would be one island-wide electoral district. Each voter would have 12 or 13 votes at each election. Each Deputy would serve for six years. An election would be held every two years for a third of Deputies each time.
- Under this option there would be two electoral districts. Each voter would have 10 votes at each election. Each Deputy would serve for four years. An election would be held every two years for half of the Deputies each time.
- Under this option there would be four electoral districts. Each voter would have 9 or 10 votes at each election. Each Deputy would serve for four years. An election would be held every four years for all Deputies at once.
- Under this option there would be seven electoral districts. Each voter would have 5 or 6 votes at each election. Each Deputy would serve for four years. An election would be held every four years for all Deputies at once. In other words, the current electoral system.
Deputies and others who favour the election of all deputies on an island-wide basis in a single election on one day can rest assured that if the Committee's recommendations are accepted by the States, and if the people demonstrate in the referendum that they want that system, it will be introduced in time for the 2020 general election.
But the Committee makes no apology for wanting to offer the people of Guernsey a reasonable range of options when determining their future electoral system. And the Committee will continue to argue against those who would rather restrict choice by offering voters a "take it or leave it" question on one electoral system only. When the policy letter is debated those deputies who are so insistent that the referendum should be on one electoral system only will no doubt explain why they want to deny choice to the people of Guernsey when asking them to determine their future electoral system.
The Committee's proposals have been developed openly and transparently. As far as I know the States' Assembly & Constitution Committee is the only committee of the States which holds its meetings in open session. Other deputies attend occasionally and the media choose to be present at most meetings. Organising the referendum has clearly been the Committee's priority since the first day of this States' term, other deputies and members of the public have been welcome to express their views, some have done so and these have helped to shape the Committee's proposals. Some time ago I wrote to the President of the Scrutiny Management Committee offering to provide it with any information it wished to have in case it wanted to review or scrutinise the work of the Committee. The parish douzaines, which play such an essential and valued role in helping to organise elections in Guernsey, have been consulted on two matters in particular: the practical operation of elections held under each of the Committee's five options and whether they would be prepared to run polling stations for the referendum. All deputies will have two further opportunities not just to express their views but actually to determine the details of the referendum, including the question on the ballot paper - first when the States debate the Committee's policy letter and a second time when the States debate the legislation which will give the referendum legal status.
Collectively the Committee is neither passionately for nor passionately against island-wide voting or dogmatic about the use of referendums generally. Some of the five members have in the past voted in favour of proposals for some form of island-wide voting; others have voted against or not yet been in the States long enough to vote on the matter. Some of the members are sceptical about the use of referendums; others voted in the last States in favour of holding a referendum on the electoral system. So members of the Committee started their work on this issue from quite different positions but with open minds and through research and debate they have reached unanimous conclusions about the best way forward.
The detailed proposals will be submitted and published in the next few weeks. The States will then debate them and make resolutions. The referendum should ideally be held two years before the next general election if any major changes are to take effect at that election.
