Two of St Helier’s three electoral districts would be assigned an extra Deputy, at the expense of two Senatorial roles, should proposals put forward win support from the States Assembly next month.
In a bid to achieve more equitable representation across Jersey’s nine educational districts, Constable Simon Crowcroft has lodged an amendment to legislation around the re-introduction of the island-wide role – due to take effect when islanders go to the polls next June.
In the report accompanying his proposals, Constable Crowcroft stated that he remains supportive of bringing back Senators – but believes island-wide representation could be achieved by having seven Senators, rather than the originally proposed nine.
The Constable’s amendment, set to be debated during the second week of September, would keep the Assembly at its current size of 49 Members, with an additional Deputy for both St Helier North and St Helier South.
In his report, Mr Crowcroft highlights differences between electoral districts in terms of the number of people for each representative. Without his amendment, St Helier South would have a representative for every 3,358 people, with St Helier North’s figure being 3,644, he added.
Mr Crowcroft contrasts these figures with the electoral district covering St Mary, St Ouen and St Peter, and the neighbouring constituency of St John, St Lawrence and Trinity, both of which have fewer than 2,000 people per representative.
Should the amendment win the support of fellow politicians, St Helier North would have 2,803 people for each Deputy and Constable, while St Helier South would have a figure of 2,582.
“Reducing the number of Senators from nine to seven is a simple step for us to take in order to address the most serious problem of a democratic deficit in St Helier,” he said.
Having been abolished with effect from the 2022 election, the island-wide office of Senator was restored, in principle, in March when a proposition from Deputy Elaine Millar secured 25 votes – the minimum figure required for changes to the electoral system.