| U.K. voters to decide their election method | | Print | |
| Written by Richard Green/richard@fptci.com | |||
| Thursday, 21 April 2011 10:34 | |||
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The same members of Parliament who will decide if the Turks and Caicos Islands will lose the first-past-the-post election system are letting U.K. voters make that decision in a May 5 referendum. Supporters of the referendum — including Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg — want to get rid of first past the post because two-thirds of ministers are elected without getting 50 percent of the vote, letting a small number of voters decide the outcome. Those who want to keep first past the post include Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron. They say the current system generally leads to stable government and has historically reflected the will of the public, in that unpopular governments have been voted out. They argue that first past the post is straightforward and easy to understand. The proposed method lets voters rank candidates for one office in order of preference. If the first preference candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, that candidate wins. Otherwise, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their second choices are allocated to the remaining candidates in a second round of counting. This continues until one candidate has 50 percent or more of the vote in that round of counting. That is not the method recommended by Kate Sullivan, the TCI interim government’s constitutional and electoral reform adviser, but she says first past the post has problems in a small country. “Some of the failings of the system are typical of the first-past-the-post system, and not exclusive to the TCI — the most obvious of these is the magnification of margins that sees one party being able to dominate the composition of the assembly despite a small majority in terms of overall votes cast,” she has said. Sullivan suggests using a voting system that elects representatives in proportion to the votes received. Incorporating a suggestion she heard during public consultation, Sullivan suggests a combination of territory-wide representatives and single-island representatives. One island member would be selected using first past the post for Providenciales, North Caicos, Middle Caicos, South Caicos, Grand Turk and Salt Cay. Then nine at large or territory-wide members would be elected from the whole territory with a compensating mathematical formula that distributes those seats on a proportional basis. The U.K. government suspended parts of the 2006 Constitution in August 2009 after allegations of corruption in the elected government that had plunged the country deep into debt. Enactment of the new Constitution is one of the milestones set by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that must be reached before the U.K. will set elections and allow return to local rule. In addition to a change in the voting method, Sullivan recommends giving more power to the governor, creating an independent Director of Public Prosecutions and giving more power to the Integrity Commission over public officials. The deadline for public comment on Sullivan’s draft Constitution is May 3. Written comments on the draft Constitution can be sent to the Governor’s Office, Waterloo, Grand Turk, TCI, or by e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Members of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will then visit the TCI for consultation hearings May 16-19. Click here to read a summary of the draft ConstitutionClick here to read the complete draft Constitution Click here to read a commentary on the draft Constitution
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