Wider look is needed on voting

Monday 17th January 2011, 2:30PM GMT.

One of the difficulties with the debate that has been triggered by the release of the States Assembly and Constitution Committee’s report on island-wide elections is that it is not clear what benefits are supposed to flow from introducing it.

Yes, a great many islanders want it but, from the debate on our sister website over the weekend and from other comments, it is clear that no one under-estimates the drawbacks in going for a full public franchise.

Whether it would make for a more democratic process is a moot point and there is concern that widening the field in such a way would disadvantage less well known candidates.

But perhaps the underlying issue for islanders is how to improve the performance of the Assembly and its members, however they might wish to define that.

For anyone considering standing for election next year – whatever system might exist by then – there is little guidance available on what they are expected to do or what skills would enable them to do a good job.

The headline task, according to the Code of Conduct for States Members, is a rather vague ‘to act in the public interest’.

It goes on: ‘While members have a general duty to act in the best interests of the public as a whole they have a special duty to be accessible to the people of the electoral district for which they have been elected to serve and to represent their interests conscientiously.’

That, of course, is a rather more wordy version of the UK’s code, which says that MPs ‘have a general duty to act in the interests of the nation as a whole; and a special duty to their constituents’.

The difference, however, is that in Britain, the average constituency is 68,500 electors, rather more than the population of Guernsey, with just one representative looking after them.

Here, we have 45 representatives for around 62,000 individuals and no great clarity on what islanders are looking for from their deputies or how they want ‘the system’ improved.

Looking at that should come before any change in the way States members are voted in.

View more: Election news, Island Wide Voting news.

1
Rees Bryant

January 21, 2011 at 3:02 pm

You are right to ask what the problem/s is, or are. That should be Stage 1A – define it/them.

Stage 1B is to get public concensus and accepatance of the problem/s. So we have a firm basis on which to proceed. It is also possible that there is no real problem, only an imagined one.

If there is an agreed problem define the possible solutions and select the best one, based on a cost/benefit evaluation, for example.
And get public approval to that.

Then implement it. It takea time but this is a hugely important issue, and the time is better spent making sure the decision is the right one, than clearing up after the wrong decision.

This is a well known process for problem solving in businesses which is perfectly applicable to any type of problem – even political ones.

I was taught it when I was in IBM in 1964, and have used it ever since.

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2
Ray

January 21, 2011 at 8:02 pm

Rees

Excellent training at IBM of course but problem solving in a trading company is far removed from what happens in our snail paced States of Procrastination

I suspect that at IBM someone,or a team, are tasked to solve a problem and are directed to report back by the end of the week with a solution

Some States committees meet once a month for an hour or so with the particular ‘problem’ being one item on the agenda.They then all go away and return a month later to discuss any progress

This is probably standard in all States committees as you often hear or read that a Minister hopes to bring a report back to the Assembly ‘before the end of the year’… very much like the current waste problem is panning out

It may be down to a lack of manpower but the pathetically slow pace of States action would not be tolerated in the private sector

If IWV misses the 2012 deadline it won’t be back ‘hopefully’in a year,it will be left for another four years in the wilderness

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