Registration opens for Political Parties

Tuesday 11 February 2020

Registration has opened up for political parties looking to stand in Guernsey's General Election in June, with a fee of £80 attached.

A form and an information pack detailing what a political party is officially defined as, and what it would need to do to be part of the election has been released.

The guidance pack - for groups wanting to know about the rules surrounding political parties - aims to provide an overview of the application process and the rules that parties will have to follow.

Pictured: A number of political parties have cropped up in Guernsey in the last couple of years: including the Islanders Association, the 2020 Association, and the Alliance Party (pictured). 

To register, a political party will need to give a name, and any abbreviation of its name, any emblem, the full names of its leaders, treasurer, secretary and office holders, its constitution, accounts, and address. Finally, it must be signed by at least two members of the party who are on the new electoral roll. 

After it is registered, a party's accounts for the previous 12 months must be given to the Greffe every February.

Pictured: A political party legally must register before it can support or endorse any candidate for the 2020 election.

"Now we have completed the majority of the work to create the framework for the 2020 General Election to be held, we are now focussing on producing guidance on the election," Deputy Neil Inder, President of the States' Assembly and Constitution Committee, said. "Given there will be groups keen to register as a political party in advance of the June election, we initially focussed on creating the guidance notes, and making sure the relevant procedures were in place, to facilitate this. The ‘Registering a political party’ guidance note is the first in a series of guides the Committee will be publishing." 

Pictured: Deputy Neil Inder is the President of SACC, which has had the monumental task of working out how the first Island Wide Voting Election is going to work. 

More information is yet to come from SACC, which will offer similar guidance for candidates. It is expected to cover FAQs and set out an election time table, along with the rules and laws that will need to be followed. 

Further, there will be information released on election expenses, the role of a deputy, the structure of the States and an outline of how the internal elections - which will take place in early July - will work. 

Pictured: To register, a political party has to apply to the Greffe with an application form. 

"It is important that we make sure those interested in the election have the information they need to engage with it – be that a candidate, political party or the voter. There is information on the Election 2020 website however we will be supporting this with guidance notes on specific areas," Deputy Inder said.

"It has been agreed with the Presiding Officer that the nomination period will run from 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday 12th May to Friday 15th May at 4:00 p.m. We will be providing information to prospective candidates well in advance of that period, to enable them to make adequate preparations to launch their campaign”.