A team of three observers from Saint Lucia, Scotland and Montserrat have arrived to keep an eye on Guernsey’s second fully island wide election, taking place next week.
The trio will visit every polling station on Wednesday 18 June. They’re also looking at how the election is being carried out, comparing it against international standards and domestic laws.
The team also known as the Election Observation Mission, will be doing this by meeting election officials, candidates, voters, and local groups to gather information that will eventually be put into a report highlighting what they saw and what they recommend ahead of Guernsey’s next election.
Made up of eight people in total, the team is from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association British Islands and Mediterranean Region. It has a remit to “support and strengthen parliamentary democracy throughout the Commonwealth”.
The three parliamentarians from Saint Lucia, Scotland, and Montserrat are accompanied by two election experts and three members of staff from the CPA UK.
Although they cannot interfere in democratically made decisions, the observers are able to comment on the impact of any changes, such as the introduction of island wide voting in 2020 following Guernsey’s only referendum in 2018.
“We’ll be looking at the way elections are administered by the authorities, we’ll also looking at the election campaign and way the candidates conduct themselves, also how voters engage with the system,” said Election analyst Mark Stevens. “Plus any strengths and weaknesses of the system, right up to polling day.”
He also added: “We are aware that the States Assembly and Constitutional Committee made reference to the fact that they found the previous CPA report very helpful, when looking at making any future potential changes to the sytem.”
The three observers available to people include Head of Mission, Hon Alvina Reynolds; the President of the Senate of Saint Lucia, and two election analysts, Mark Stevens and Merce Castells Vicente.
Voters will also have the opportunity to speak to them on any manifesto or political issue, as they’ll be singling themselves out in high-vis vests at hustings and polling stations so they can’t be missed.
“Election observation plays an important role in strengthening democracies around the world,” said Hon Reynolds.
“Looking at interaction of the candidates and their preparation at hustings and how knowledgeable they are, and prepared for serving.”
She said the team has already attended a hustings and she was very interested in hearing about the issues that were being raised including taxation, transport, and housing.
Election analyst Mr Stevens said: “You don’t offer comments on the process as you go along, you know highlighting problems. Our job is to observe, impartially and independently the process. Our interest is how the process is conducted.”
He went on to explain that they collect all the information and put it together for a a preliminary statement, that is be published on 20 June, after the election results have been declared.
It will outline the Mission’s initial findings. Two months later, a final report will be published with detailed findings and recommendations.
He also said how delighted they were to be in Guernsey in person.
The election in 2020 was monitored remotely because of Covid-19 restrictions, meaning this is the first in-person international election observation.