NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE
WE WILL HAVE A MODERN ELECTORAL SYSTEM – FOR THE ELECTION AFTER THE NEXT ONE!
That throwaway remark I included in the earlier post about next years election may yet be more prophetic than I thought I said:
‘Anyway make sure you return those slips because if you do, despite all, feel moved enough to vote best to make sure you are on the list after all they’ve been loosing a heck of a lot of voters details of late.’ (See link):
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=953412874707474&id=805941286121301&substory_index=0
Today the government have issued a statement about the need to ensure your election details are up to date however the ‘punch line’ is somewhat worrying to say the least:
‘Mrs Fletcher said good progress had been made tidying up the electoral register to make it more reliable and accurate than it had been for several years.
But she added:
‘There is no doubt that the Island’s electoral legislation is in need of modernisation, and a root and branch review has already been set in motion. This is a huge and complex issue, however, and a new system cannot be developed until after this year’s general election.’
See link:
https://www.gov.im/news/2016/jan/07/annual-update-of-electoral-register/
Now this is interesting because it seems to indicate a degree of uncertainty will still exist at the time the next General Election takes place.
Also it seems somewhat odd that although the franchise was extended to sixteen year olds at the last (2011) General Election a move which must have been one of the most radical changes for many decades the register was not ‘modernised’ at that time.
It begs the question when did electoral deficiencies first became apparent which led to the conclusion that there was:
‘no doubt that the Island’s electoral legislation is in need of modernisation’
I mean lets cut to the chase here the Isle of Man has a population of 85,000 approximately 60,000 of whom are eligible to vote this is hardly India (the worlds most populous democracy) surely between now and September any fine tuning of the electoral register must be possible?
Maybe we could ask for some election monitors from Russia or the Democratic Republic of Congo?
I mean we are always sending people like Rodan on Commonwealth ‘jollies’ (I think the correct term is Election Observation Missions) perhaps we should get some election scrutiniser’s from countries with models of democracy akin to our own!
Oh well as the Greek philosopher Thucydides said:
“In a democracy, someone who fails to get elected to office can always console himself with the thought that there was something not quite fair about it.”
BERNARD MOFFATT
Issued by: The Celtic News
07/01/16
THE CELTIC LEAGUE INFORMATION SERVICE.
The Celtic League established in 1961 has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It promotes cooperation between the countries and campaigns on a range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, military activity and socio-economic issues
https://celticleague.net