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Guernsey elects a legislature at the national level. The islands of Alderney and Sark also elect their own parliaments.
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Guernsey elects a legislature at the national level. The islands of Alderney and Sark also elect their own parliaments.
The Guernsey legislature, the States of Deliberation, consists of 38 elected members (known as Deputies) and two representatives of Alderney, with the Bailiff (or his Deputy) acting as Presiding Officer with neither a casting nor original vote. In addition the Law Officers of the Crown are members of the States of Deliberation but they may not vote and by convention only address the assembly when answering questions or offering legal advice on matters under debate. Guernsey is a state in which political parties have not historically played an important role.
Islanders also vote for their Parish officials.
Voters are eligible to be inscribed on the electoral roll of Guernsey if they are: [1]
Held every 4 years. The Guernsey States of Deliberation consists of 38 elected members (known as Deputies) and two representatives of Alderney, with the Bailiff (or his Deputy) acting as Presiding Officer with neither a casting nor original vote. Prior to 2016, the number of elected members was 45+2. [2]
In 2020 voting moved to an island-wide system; prior to that there were seven election districts from 2004.
Deputies are elected from a single island-wide constituency by plurality-at-large voting, with voters being able to cast up to 38 votes. [3]
A free association of persons wishing to support or endorse a candidate for election must register their party with the Guernsey Greffier.
Guernsey political parties include: [4]
Each parish in Guernsey is administered by a Douzaine. Douzeniers are elected for a six-year mandate, two Douzeniers being elected by parishioners at a Parish Meeting in November each year. The senior Douzenier is known as the Doyen.
Two elected Constables carry out the decisions of the Douzaine, serving for between one and three years. The longest serving Constable is known as the Senior Constable and his or her colleague as the Junior Constable.
Each Douzaine nominates between one and nine of their number (depending upon the population in the parish) (34 in total) to represent their parish in the States of Election for a new Jurat. [5]
Alderney elects its own parliament, as well as two representatives to the bailiwick assembly. States Members hold office for four years and in alternate years there is an "Ordinary Election" at which five of the sitting members may offer themselves for re-election. [6] The President of the States of Alderney is elected for a four-year term of office.
Sark elects its own parliament.
Voters are eligible to be inscribed on the electoral roll of Sark if they are: [7]
Guernsey is the second largest island in the Channel Islands, located 27 miles (43 km) west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited islands and many small islets and rocks. The Bailiwick has a population of 63,950, the vast majority of whom live on Guernsey, and the island has a land area of 24 square miles (62 km2).
Politics of the Bailiwick of Guernsey take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic British Crown dependency.
The Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown dependency, unitary state and parliamentary representative democracy and constitutional monarchy. The head of the civil administration and judiciary is the Bailiff Timothy Le Cocq, while the Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham is the head of government. The current monarch and head of state is King Charles III.
Sark is an island, part of the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a royal fief, which forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. 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 Bailiff is the chief justice in each of the Channel Island bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey, also serving as president of the legislature and having ceremonial and executive functions. Each bailiwick has possessed its own bailiff since the islands were divided into two jurisdictions in the 13th century. The bailiffs and deputy bailiffs are appointed by the Crown on the advice of the Secretary of State for Justice and may hold office until retirement age.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey is a self-governing British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France, comprising several of the Channel Islands. It has a total land area of 78 square kilometres (30 sq mi) and an estimated total population of 67,334.
The title Bailiff of Guernsey has been used since at least the 13th century and indicated the leading citizen of Guernsey.
Elections in Jersey take place for the States Assembly and at parish-level. Various parties have been formed over the years in Jersey, but few candidates stand for election affiliated to any political party. All elections in Jersey use the first-past-the-post voting system. In 2008, the voting age was reduced to 16 years.
The jurats are lay people in Guernsey and Jersey who act as judges of fact rather than law, though they preside over land conveyances and liquor licensing. In Alderney, however, the jurats are judges of both fact and law in both civil and criminal matters.
The States Assembly is the parliament of Jersey, formed of the island's 37 deputies and the Connétable of each of the twelve parishes.
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.
The lieutenant governor of Guernsey is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a Crown dependency of the British Crown. The role of the lieutenant governor is to act as the de facto head of state in Guernsey and as liaison between the governments of Guernsey and the United Kingdom. The holder of this office is also ex officio a member of the States of Guernsey but may not vote and, by convention, speaks in the Chamber only on appointment and on departure from post. The duties are primarily diplomatic and ceremonial. He has the authority to appointment two members of the board of governors of Elizabeth College and the Priaulx Library.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey includes the island of Guernsey and other islands such as Alderney, Sark, Herm, Jethou, Brecqhou, and Lihou. Each parish was established, probably in the 11th century, as a religious area, each having its parish church. Administratively each parish is now administered by an elected council known as a Douzaine.
The States of Election has only one purpose, to elect a new Jurat to the Courts in Guernsey.
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.
Politics of Alderney takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic British Crown dependency, whereby the President of the States of Alderney is the head of government. Alderney is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey but is largely self-governing.
Elections in Alderney are held for the positions both of President and Member of the States of Alderney. The President of the States of Alderney is directly elected every four years. Half of the ten States Members are elected every two years for a four-year mandate. In 2014 1,267 people were registered to vote. The whole island is a single constituency.
The Courts of Guernsey are responsible for the administration of justice in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. They apply the law of the Island, which is a mixture of customary law dating back as far as the 10th century and legislation passed by the legislature, the States of Deliberation.
The Law of Guernsey originates in Norman customary law, overlaid with principles taken from English common law and French law, as well as from statute law enacted by the competent legislature(s) – usually, but not always, the States of Guernsey.
The Policy & Resources Committee is the Senior Committee of the system of government in Guernsey. It was created on 1 May 2016 to replace the Policy Council of Guernsey.
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