IN TYNWALD

JANUARY 2007

FOR WRITTEN ANSWER 38

The Hon Member for Michael (Mr Cannan) to ask the Minister for the Treasury -

What is the total cost or estimated total cost to Government (including all fees and expenses incurred by Returning Officers) of the House of Keys General Election on 23rd November 2006?

ANSWER

The estimate included in the 2006/07 Budget for the General Election was £160,000.

The cost of the 2006 General Election for the House of Keys is estimated to be £164,500. Certain claims and invoices are still outstanding.

The figure is compiled as follows -

What it takes to get elected to the House of Keys varies widely according of course to voter interest but also whether third place will do. You may only need to impress less than  1 in 5 of your potential voters!

We compiled a constituency analysis of votes gained as a percentage of both the registered electorate and the turnout on the day. BNote however that a cursory comparison of the registered voter numbers with the Treasury's own figures on economically active (i.e. working population) figures suggest that many thousands who could have did not register to vote, meaning that some MHKs were returned with less than 20% of those that could have voted if they had chose to.

• We aim to change the way the Isle of Man elections are fought by making them electorate-driven rather than candidate-driven.
• We want to influence the forthcoming election campaign from the ‘bottom up’. In other words, through the Positive Action Group we will give a voice to the people and we will say very loudly what we want. This will be a campaign where the Candidate will be asked to give us what we want, not what he or she wants to offer.
• We are not going to leave it to the last minute to look at individual candidates’ manifestos and see if there is anything in it for us, and choose the ‘best’ of what is on offer.
• We will take positive action now to influence the direction of the new parliament, by drawing up our own wish list of reforms to the system of government and ask which of the candidates can deliver.
• We want to work with the candidates (new and sitting members) to provide a base for coherent government before candidates are elected.
• We intend to continue to support candidates, once elected, so that the new parliament does not evolve into a disparate group of individuals with no connected objectives.
• We want to reclaim politics for the people and make them stakeholders in their future. Positive Action Group will work towards creating a unified community with a critical mass of aware and active voters.

What makes us different, we believe, is that we are ordinary individuals who have come together because of our shared, genuine concerns about the Isle of Man. We are giving up our time for the express purpose of having a positive influence on the future of the Isle of Man through the democratic process. We are determined that apathy from the electorate, born of several years of disillusionment with the political system, will not result in us getting the government that we do not deserve.