All four LegCo seats filled

Four members of the upper chamber of the Manx parliament the Legislative Council, have been elected by the House of Keys.

The vacant seats were filled over seven rounds of balloting this morning (18 March).

Geoff Corkish moves to LegCo one third of the way through his second term as West Douglas MHK, while sitting MLCs Tony Wild and Juan Turner were both re elected. Today's result has produced one new figure in Tynwald, Michael Coleman.

A sitting of the House of Keys called for the election began at 10am with speeches from the proposers of the seven candidates. Thirteen votes are required to gain a seat in Legislative Council .

Mr Wild and Mr Corkish were both elected in the first ballot, Mr Wild being returned comfortably with 16 votes while there was a narrower margin for Mr Corkish who won 14.

The five remaining candidates put their names back in the hat for a second vote, in which Michael Coleman took the lead with 11 votes, not enough to win the third vacant seat.

The lowest polling candidates Linda Bowers-Kasch and Peter Hill who were both proposed by Liberal Vannin leader Peter Karran and had attracted just three votes each in the first two rounds, dropped out in the third.

That allowed Mr Coleman to gain ground, winning his LegCo seat with 14 votes.

Three more rounds of voting between Nigel Malpass and Juan Turner produced no winner, but with Mr Turner just ahead throughout, he won the day on the 7th round.

So the new LegCo members to serve a four year term are Michael Coleman, Geoff Corkish, Juan Turner and Tony Wild.

Mr Corkish's elevation to the upper house triggers a by-election in West Douglas constituency, which he has represented since 2006.