STATES Members began a potentially lengthy debate on electoral reform yesterday afternoon.
Treasury Minister Elaine Millar, acting in a private capacity, opened the debate on her proposition by describing the abolition of the Islandwide role of Senators ahead of the 2022 general election as “a mistake”.
Deputy Millar’s proposition seeks to cut nine Deputy positions from the 49-seat Chamber at the time of next year’s election and replace them with nine Senators.
“In general I believe that the direction of travel we take should be forward, not back,” she said. “But I also believe that if you make a mistake, you should fix it.”
While admitting that a series of public meetings on the subject across all 12 parishes had not been especially well attended, attracting a total of around 150 people, Deputy Millar said she had received strong support for the move.
“I believe that there is a very large part of our population who feel disheartened, disengaged and disenfranchised by the loss of the Islandwide mandate,” she said.
Putting forward the first of several amendments, Deputy Tom Coles outlined a different system that would end the automatic right of the parish Constables to sit in the States Assembly, with 12 Senatorial positions introduced instead.
“This is all about voter equity, and it is nothing personal about any of the Constables,” he said.
Deputy Coles said that while there was one representative for every 1,994 voters in the electoral district covering St John, St Lawrence and Trinity, his own district of St Helier South has 3,354 voters per Member elected. He also compared the contrast in population between the smallest parish – St Mary, with 1,800 voters – and the largest – St Helier (36,000) – with a Constable for each.
In the first vote to take place, Members emphatically rejected a move by Deputy Kristina Moore to amend Deputy Coles’ amendment on Constables to establish eight Senator roles, rather than 12, reducing the size of the Assembly to 45 seats. Members voted by 38 to six against the move by the former Chief Minister.
Other strands of the debate, which was due to resume at 9.30am today, will include the potential introduction of an independent boundaries commission and the restoration of an earlier election day for Senators.
While the changes are all proposed for 2026, the Privileges and Procedure Committee will propose postponing any reforms until the 2030 election.
