Two-term limit for Chief Minister

Friday 07 April 2017

Chief Ministers could soon be restricted to a maximum of two terms.

Senator Sarah Ferguson believes the job is so demanding there’s a danger of going stale or suffering from burnout, and has lodged a proposition aimed a limiting the number of times some can hold the top job.

In the introduction to her proposition she says: “It should be noted that this is not a personal attack on anyone, least of all the current politicians. It is, however, a topic which should be discussed now rather than in the frenzied heat of the election period.”

She goes on to argue: “In business there is a tendency to get a little stale during the second period of a contract and to lapse into burnout in a third period, a fact which does support the concept of a limited term.”

And she backs up her claim by listing other jobs that have time limits. The Comptroller and Auditor General is in post for seven years, and it is proposed that a limit of nine years is placed on the Chairman of the Appointments Commission. Commissioners to the Jersey Financial Services Commission normally serve two terms only. The post of Lieutenant Governor is held for a period of five years only and it is an unwritten rule that there should be no second term.

It’ll now be up to the States to say if they agree with her.