Politics
How to Pick a Chief Min?
If agreed by MHKs, then any member wanting to be Chief would give a speech before being asked questions from other members.
MHKs are to be asked to back a new procedure for picking the next Chief Minister.
The changes put forward will not see any further role for voters in picking the Chief and ultimately the direction the island is going in.
The present procedure leading to that nomination involves the publication of a written policy statement, a hustings which is videoed and published on YouTube, an open election process in which everyone knows who has voted for whom, and a confirmatory vote in which the preferred candidate must reach the threshold of 13 votes specified by the Act.
Currently, MHKs who want to be Chief don’t get to say anything within the parliamentary setting. Rather, candidates must be proposed by other members. Those proposers may make brief speeches but there is no debate.
If agreed by MHKs, then any member wanting to be Chief would give a speech before being asked questions from other members.
The Committee, chaired by Juan Watterson SHK, said it would make the process ‘both more thorough and more transparent’.
The changes, if approved, would come into effect the next time a vacancy arrives, either after the next election or if Alf Cannan was to leave his post.
Tynwald members were invited to take part in the survey that helped lead the Committee’s recommendations, with just 15 MHKs and three MLCs being recorded as doing so.
While most only gave short replies to the direct questions asked, one did raise the issue of a publicly elected Chief Minister and improving public engagement.
The unnamed MHK said: ‘Obviously unless or until such time as the head of our government is elected by the people this is tricky to achieve, and unfortunately, the present system gives the impression of the island’s government being remote from its voters.’
