The SACC have made comments about the coming by-election which are not only inaccurate, they do not best serve the interests of democracy.

First, they have said this is the first ever island wide by -election.

This is simply not true.

There was a by-election for an island wide States Member on 8 April 1998.

I was the successful candidate beating one other candidate.

The only difference was that the by-election was for the island of Guernsey and Alderney, a bigger electoral area.

The island office was called Conseiller, and that office was abolished on 30 April 2000.

It took many years of campaigning to get island wide States Members returned, and when that happened, it was for all States Members and not just 12 of them (at that time).

So the SACC should have known their facts, and they should not publish misleading information.

The other very important point is that SACC have decided to try to save money in this coming by-election by deciding not to publish the manifestos of the candidates in a pamphlet.

This is an appalling decision.

When we had the previous by-election in 1998, we had our two candidates’ manifestos published with a forward by the then Bailiff.

SACC should have known this!

Proper democratic elections are not about saving money. The money has to be provided to ensure the election process is fair and effective from every perspective.

This means it is essential that the candidates’ manifestos are published and distributed to all those on the Electoral Roll.

This is important as by-elections should have equal democratic election procedures to those at the General Election.

It is a fundamental that all candidates are treated equally. This decision must be reversed by SACC or the States, as it means the candidates with the most amount of money will be able to afford better distribution of their manifestos. It is simply not acceptable.

The fact that the manifestos will be online should be a given; it should not be an excuse to not send them to all the electors on the electoral roll.

Many electors today still need to have a printed manifesto, and it is wrong to depend solely on the online version.

I sincerely hope these issues can be rectified.

Tony Webber

Anthony Webber, States Deputy and Conseiller, 1991-2004