THE VOTERS of the Isle of Man are being urged to have their say on the possibility of constituency boundaries being changed following this year’s House of Keys general election.

The government is keen to hear the views of voters on whether they believe a new system is required to give a fairer representation of the people.

Several politicians have already submitted views on the subject, but the response from the public has not been very strong, so the government has extended the time for making a submission by a month.

Voters will now have until the end of March to offer their views to the Boundary Review Committee which was appointed by Tynwald in July last year and chaired by advocate Sally Bolton.

The committee is due to report back by the end of this year so its work will not affect the forthcoming House of Keys general election on September 29. 

The chief driving force behind the review is the change to the Isle of Man’s population in recent times. However, there has also been occasional criticism of the existing system because in some constituencies electors have the ability to vote three times, whereas in others voters can only vote once.

One group which has already made comment on the subject is the Positive Action political lobbying Group (PAG) which claims the existing system is unfair. They have recommended that the Island be divided into eight different constituencies, each with three MHKs which they say would give “equality of representation”.

Government figures show the following breakdown:-

Constituencies with 3 MHKs - Onchan, Rushen (combined total 13,678 voters)

Constituencies with 2 MHKs - Douglas East, Douglas North, Ramsey, Douglas South, Douglas West (combined total 23,361 voters)

Constituencies with 1 MHK   - Ayre, Castletown, Garff, Glenfaba, Michael, Peel, Malew & Santon, Middle. (combined total 21,976 voters)

The Boundary Review Committee will accept views on the subject up to March 31st and has highlighted a number of suggested areas where opinions may be expressed:-

• Existing boundaries 

• Possible changes to existing boundaries 

• Size of constituencies 

• Number of members per constituency 

• Number of voters per elected member 

• Whether population should be the sole guide to constituency size 

• Any other relevant issues

Representations from any person interested should be made in writing by 31st March 2011 to The Secretary of the Boundary Review Committee, Chief Secretary’s Office, Government Office, Bucks Road, Douglas. IM1 3PN or via email to caroline.mallon@cso.gov.im

Members of the Boundary Review Committee 2011 are: Sally Bolton, chairman; Terry Groves, Ashton Lewis and Bob Riding.

The Council of Ministers agreed that the Boundary Review Committee should be asked to report no later than 31 December 2011. It was further agreed that the Report could, if necessary, be an Interim Report. 

More information on the Boundary Review Committee can be found via the Chief Secretary’s Office website at http://www.gov.im/cso/brc/review.xml