CHANGING the make-up of the States Assembly in the run-up to a general election would risk “reputational damage” to Jersey and “further disengage” voters, the Privileges and Procedures Committee has said.
Ahead of a series of proposals to alter the composition of the Chamber in time for the election scheduled for June next year, which could include the return of the Islandwide role of Senator and the end of the automatic places for Constables in the Assembly, the committee has moved to put the brakes on.
Warning that such changes should not be rushed, the PPC has lodged a proposal that would see any changes voted through in a debate later this month take effect from 2030, rather than 2026.
The issue of electoral reform has been brought back to the agenda by Treasury Minister Elaine Millar. Acting in a private capacity and fulfilling a pledge made before the 2022 election, Deputy Millar has proposed that nine Senators should be elected, replacing one Deputy seat for each of the nine electoral districts.
Two amendments have already been lodged, with Deputy Tom Coles seeking to remove the role of Constable from the Assembly and have 12 Senatorial seats, and his Reform Jersey colleague Deputy Sam Mézec calling for an independent boundary commission to be given a role in overseeing future changes.
In the report accompanying her committee’s amendment, PPC chair Constable Karen Stone highlighted guidance from several bodies warning against such moves.
Mrs Stone said the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association had stated that “substantive amendments… should be adopted well in advance of the next election and never less than a year before.”
Similar sentiments had been expressed, she added, by the Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe, and by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, which said last-minute legislation risked “undermining the legitimacy and credibility of the law.”
The PPC, which stressed it was not taking a position on whether the proposals regarding Senators or Constables should be brought in or not, cited two potential risks of changing the system ahead of next year’s election:
“The first is that we would be ignoring the recommendations of CPA election observers and internationally recognised best practice, which would be damaging to us reputationally and would simply not be good governance,” the committee stated.
“Secondly, and most importantly, we would be making major changes in the run-up to the election and risk further disengaging the electorate, [which has] cited lack of trust and lack of understanding of the electoral system as [reasons for not voting].”
In conclusion, the committee stated that: “the stability of the law is crucial to the credibility of the electoral process, which is itself vital to consolidating democracy.
“It is for this reason that it does not consider such substantive changes should be brought into effect until after the next elections have taken place.”
Deputy Millar’s proposition and the amendments are set to be debated when the Assembly meets on 18 March.
