Referendum on Triviality

Central European Time Referendum: Jersey is holding it's first ever referendum.

The States want to know whether islanders would like to adopt central European time. That means the island would be an hour ahead of the United Kingdom and Guernsey. The proposer Senator Jimmy Perchard believes in time they will also shift their clocks.

The States will still make the final decision following the referendum on 15th October - the same day as the Senatorial elections.

http://www5.channelonline.tv/news/templates/jerseynews2.aspx?articleid=15213&zoneid=1

This is the recent news on Channel TV tonight!

When one considers that Shona Pitman submitted a proposition to the Bailiff last year which asked for a referendum to be held to engage the public's view on whether or not the Chief Minister should be directly elected by his/her electorate, we can see that referendums can be held on the kind of matter than doesn't really matter (except to cause major confusion between Jersey and the UK and Guernsey, mess up radio signal clocks etc etc)

The Bailiff subsequently ruled the Shona's proposition out of order for the following reasons -

'the election by the public of the Chief Minister would in my view confuse a ministerial system of government with a presidential-type system. The Chief Minister must, in our current system of government, enjoy the confidence of the majority of elected members of the States. To have the Chief Minister elected by popular vote might involve the election of a person who did not enjoy that confidence. In such a state of affairs a paralysis of government could follow. I do not think that one can fairly invite the public to vote upon a question which would lead to a constitutionally unworkable system'.(E-mail - 8/1/07).

So much for the idea that the Bailiff does not intervene in the political process. This is clearly a political decision by the Bailiff, and a unilateral one at that! To say that the Bailiff is outside the political process, and is purely a "speaker" to bring order to the Chamber is therefore disingenuous.

Look at the implications too - we can have a chief minister who does not have the support of the majority of the electorate, but is still voted in by the States.

To paraphrase the Bailiff: To have the Chief Minister elected by the States in this manner does not give confidence in democracy in this Island. In such a state of affairs apathy and cynicism of voters who have been ignored could follow.

Accordingly, the proposition did not go to the States. Instead she tried for the following this year: to agree in principle that any candidate for the position of Senator, Connétable or Deputy should be required, at the time of his or her nomination for the position, to make a public declaration if he or she intends to stand for the post of Chief Minister after the election;

It didn't get through, of course.

POUR: 6 CONTRE: 37 OUT OF ISLAND: 1 EN DEFAUT: 1 NOT PRESENT: 8
Deputy Peter Nicholas Troy
Deputy Judith Ann Martin
Deputy Geoffrey Peter Southern
Deputy Patrick John Dennis Ryan
Deputy Shona Pitman
Deputy Ian Joseph Gorst

Now instead, thanks to Senator Jim Perchard, we have a referendum on trivialities, a kind of token referendum which shows that they can take place, and you - members of the public - are being asked, so don't say we don't consult you. Of course, when it comes to the really serious issues, forget it! They don't want to know!