Latest news with #electoralSystem
BBC News
9 hours ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Guernsey deputy chief minister laments island-wide voting system
Guernsey's deputy chief minister has described the current electoral system as "isolating". Voters backed the move to elect politicians from an entire island constituency, rather than the previous district system, at a referendum in 2020. Deputy Heidi Soulsby, who is standing down at the 2025 general election after 13 years in local politics, said she believed the system had cut voters off from politicians. "I don't like this system, you miss one-on-one conversations and that connection with the public," she told the BBC. "People have to come to you, in a way that's different to the parish system, you were going to them."At the first island-wide general election in 2020, she came second with 12,779 votes, while she topped the polls in the South East in 2012 with 2,061 votes. Soulsby said: "If I wanted to stand, it wouldn't have stopped me, but the thought of going through this really isolating existence wasn't ideal." A number of candidates and voters have said they would like to see the electoral system reviewed before the 2029 general election. However, defenders of the current system said it led to a record turnout at the 2020 general said of the previous system: "You were out knocking on doors, walking the streets having one-to-one conversations with people who could be really angry about what you said. "It was great - you found out what the issues were." A Scrutiny Management Report review of the 2020 election concluded there "remains significant support for the ability to vote for any candidate who stands" and did not recommend making a change to the system of island-wide voting for the 2025 said it was still hard to defend the current system despite the findings."I feel that sense of isolation of deputies, that lack of connection," she said."You feel more in a bubble."
BreakingNews.ie
19-05-2025
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Research indicates high levels of confidence in Irish electoral system
High levels of confidence in Ireland's electoral system have been indicated in new research. Some 94 per cent of respondents agreed that elections are conducted in accordance with the law, and 88mper cent said that elections are well managed and that election officials are fair while 96 per cent of voters claimed that they are confident that their ballot papers were secret once they put then in the ballot box. Advertisement The General Election 2024, National Election And Democracy Study was conducted by An Coimisiun Toghchain, Ireland's independent electoral commission, and the National Election and Democracy Study (NEDS) Management Board. The study also suggested that Irish voters are knowledgeable about aspects of the voting and democratic process, but there is also further work to be done. It found that 90 per cent of respondents understood that every one of their preferences has the potential to count, 76 per cent knew that they did not need to express a preference for each candidate on the ballot paper, 36 per cent agreed that information about voting procedures is not widely available and 51 per cent mistakenly thought they needed their polling card to vote. Other findings of this face-to-face study of just under 1,500 randomly selected respondents are that for first time voters, the influence of their friends, family, school or work was key to encouraging them to get on the electoral register with 27 per cent citing this as important. Advertisement Meanwhile, 24 per cent were prompted by social media, newspaper, TV or radio ads which were a focus for An Coimisiun Toghchain during the election campaign. The highest reasons given by registered people for not voting on November 29th were being away on the day (30 per cent), work commitments (27 per cent), with 12 per cent pointing to disinterest in politics, indecision at 11 per cent and six per cent who said their vote did not matter. 37 per cent of those who did not vote were not on the register. This data is to be used to benchmark An Coimisiun's performance and guide its future initiatives. Advertisement A key priority for An Coimisiun is to understand the reasons why people do not vote so the sample includes 324 non-voters. Welcoming the data, Art O'Leary, chief executive of An Coimisiun Toghchain said it highlights the value of An Coimisiun Toghchain's National Election and Democracy Study to learn more about the experience and perspectives of current and potential voters as well as contributing to academic scholarship about democracy and elections. 'We simply have to understand more about who non-voters are and why they are staying away from the polls, and so this data will feed into other research projects we are advancing through our broader Research Programme and our public campaigns and engagement,' he said.
