Politics of the Bailiwick of Guernsey take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic British Crown dependency.
Sark is an island, part of the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. It was a royal fief until 2008. It has a population of about 500. Sark has an area of 2.10 square miles (5.44 km2). Little Sark is a peninsula joined by a natural but high and very narrow isthmus to the rest of Sark Island.
The Seigneur of Sark is the lord of the manor of Sark in the Channel Islands. A female seigneur of Sark is called Dame of Sark, of which there have been three. The husband of a female ruler of Sark is not a consort but is jure uxoris a seigneur himself.
Brecqhou is one of the Channel Islands, located off the west coast of Sark where they are now geographically detached from each other. Brecqhou is politically part of both Sark and the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It has been established in the courts that Brecqhou is a tenement of Sark. The Ministry of Justice, the department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for the Channel Islands, considers Brecqhou part of Sark.
Sir David Rowat Barclay and Sir Frederick Hugh Barclay, commonly referred to as the "Barclay Brothers" or "Barclay Twins", were British billionaire brothers, of whom Frederick Barclay is now the sole survivor. They were identical twin brothers and, until the death of David in 2021, had joint business interests primarily in media, retail and property.
During the 2004 United States elections, there was controversy around various aspects of the voting process, including whether voting had been made accessible to all those entitled to vote, whether ineligible voters were registered, whether voters were registered multiple times, and whether the votes cast had been correctly counted.
Guernsey elects a legislature at the national level. The islands of Alderney and Sark also elect their own parliaments.
The States of Guernsey, officially the States of Deliberation and sometimes referred to as the Government of Guernsey, is the parliament and government of the British Crown dependency of Guernsey. Some laws and ordinances approved by the States of Guernsey also apply to Alderney and Sark as "Bailiwick-wide legislation" with the consent of the governments of those islands. All enactments of the States of Guernsey apply to Herm as well as Guernsey, since Herm is directly administered by the Bailiwick of Guernsey.
Ranked-choice voting (RCV) can refer to one of several ranked voting methods used in some cities and states in the United States. The term is not strictly defined, but most often refers to instant-runoff voting (IRV) or single transferable vote (STV), the main difference being whether only one winner or multiple winners are elected.
Since 2008, Elections in Sark take place every two years to elect 14 members of the Chief Pleas, the parliament of Sark, to serve a four-year term in a rolling election cycle.
General elections were held in Sark on 8 December 2010, the second elections held on the island under the 2008 Constitution. The elections were for 14 of the seats that had been elected in the 2008 elections, for a four-year term.
A referendum on the composition of the Chief Pleas was held in Sark between 16 August and 6 September 2006, following an informal referendum in February. Voters were given the choice of having all 28 seats elected, or to have 12 seats for Deputies, eight for tenants and eight elected by everyone.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in the British Crown dependency of Guernsey have improved significantly in the past decades. Same-sex sexual activity for both men and women is legal in Guernsey. Same-sex marriage has been legal since 2 May 2017 in Guernsey, and since 14 June 2018 in its dependency, Alderney. Legislation approving the legalisation of same-sex marriage in its other dependency, Sark was given royal assent on 11 March 2020. Guernsey is the only part of the British Isles to have never enacted civil partnership legislation, though civil partnerships performed in the United Kingdom were recognised for succession purposes. Since April 2017, same-sex couples can adopt in the entire Bailiwick. Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity has been banned since 2004. Transgender people have been able to legally change gender since 2007.
General elections were held in Sark on 12 December 2012 to elect half of the 28 members of the Chief Pleas. Ten conseillers were re-elected, four candidates were elected for the first time, and two sitting conseillers lost their seats.
Same-sex marriage is legal in all parts of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a Crown Dependency of the United Kingdom. Legislation to open marriage to same-sex couples in Guernsey was passed by the States of Guernsey on 21 September 2016, and took effect on 2 May 2017. Same-sex marriage laws took effect in Alderney on 14 June 2018, and Sark on 23 April 2020.
The Sark Newspaper is a controversial small publication, distributed free to residents of the island of Sark, and published online. It is edited by Kevin Delaney, who worked for the Barclay brothers, David Rowat Barclay and Frederick Hugh Barclay, publishing magnates.
Sandra Williams is a Conseiller on Sark's Chief Pleas, the island's parliament. She was among the first elected to the reformed legislature in 2008, topped the poll in the 2012 election and was returned unopposed in 2016.
General elections were held in Sark on 12 December 2018. The elections saw 15 candidates contest the nine available seats in the Chief Pleas, the first time seats were contested since 2012. Seven of the nine elected members were new to the legislature.
The 2020 Guernsey general election took place on 7 October 2020 to elect 38 members of the States of Guernsey. Originally scheduled to be held in June 2020, it was delayed a year to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic before being brought forward to its final date.
General elections were due to be held in Sark on 16 December 2020 and will serve for 4 years, until December 2024.
