THERE should be a national holiday for the next House of Keys general election in the Isle of Man to try to end voter apathy.
Onchan MHK Zac Hall made the comment today in Tynwald during the debate on changing constituency boundaries.
“It works in other countries, so why not here?” he said. Mr Hall said that the September general election this year had resulted in an average of only around 50% of voters turning out on election day which he felt could easily be increased.
“I wanted to say this now so that there’s time for some changes to be made in the next five years before the next election,” he added.
He said that national elections are accompanied by national holidays in a large number of countries and a noticeable increase in voters had been seen, up to 75% and 80% in some cases.
