The strangest election in the world? The October 2020 general election in Guernsey

Abstract

This paper analyses the general election held on 7th October 2020 in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency and the second largest of the Channel Islands with a population of 63,021. In an election described by the Electoral Reform Society as the strangest in the world (ERS, 2020), all thirty-eight members of the States of Guernsey were elected from an island wide list of 119 candidates using the multiple non-transferable vote (or ‘bloc vote’) variant of the ’first-past-the-post’ system. The election disrupted the social networks of the previously highly localised parish based electoral system, and for the first time presented voters with three political parties, alongside the majority of candidates who stood as independents. This paper uses material obtained by interviews with those closely involved. It discusses Guernsey’s unique system of government and the context within which the election took place. This paper concludes by reflecting on the prospects of an emerging party system, considers the consequences of the election results and draws out governance and political implications that may frame debates in Guernsey in the years ahead.