Outgoing deputy laments 'isolating' voting system

Guernsey's deputy chief minister has described the current electoral system as "isolating".

Voters backed the move to elect politicians from an entire island constituency, rather than the previous district system, at a referendum in 2018.

Deputy Heidi Soulsby, who is standing down at the 2025 general election after 13 years in local politics, said she believed the system had cut voters off from politicians.

"I don't like this system, you miss one-on-one conversations and that connection with the public," she told the BBC.

"People have to come to you, in a way that's different to the parish system, you were going to them."

At the first island-wide general election in 2020, she came second with 12,779 votes, while she topped the polls in the South East in 2012 with 2,061 votes.

Soulsby said: "If I wanted to stand, it wouldn't have stopped me, but the thought of going through this really isolating existence wasn't ideal."

A number of candidates and voters have said they would like to see the electoral system reviewed before the 2029 general election.

However, defenders of the current system said it led to a record turnout at the 2020 general election.

Soulsby said of the previous system: "You were out knocking on doors, walking the streets having one-to-one conversations with people who could be really angry about what you said.

"It was great - you found out what the issues were."

A Scrutiny Management Report review of the 2020 election concluded there "remains significant for the ability to vote for any candidate who stands" and did not recommend making a change to the system of island-wide voting for the 2025 election.

Soulsby said it was still hard to defend the current system despite the findings.

"I feel that sense of isolation of deputies, that lack of connection," she said.

"You feel more in a bubble."

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