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Tynwald to vote on boundary recommendations

Members of Tynwald will debate the complicated subject of constituency boundaries at this month's sitting.

Chief Minister Allan Bell will move that the interim report of the Boundary Committee be received, and a number of recommendations approved.

It's the only really weighty issue on the order paper this month, but while there are four key recommendations to be considered and voted upon, there won't be any action in the short term.

The recommendations ask MHKs and MLCs to accept a number of basic principles.

They are equality of representation, so that all the constituencies return an equal number of members to the House of Keys; equivalency of representation, with a maximum variance figure of 15 per cent; and a target of getting 95 per cent of the eligible population onto the voting register.

The fourth recommendation is a commitment to regularly review constituency boundaries, and the creation of a permanent independent electoral committee or commission.

The fifth says the committee should complete its deliberations and report back a year from now.

The last sitting of Tynwald of 2011 starts on Tuesday, December 13 and, as usual, there will be full, live coverage on Manx Radio's AM 1368 frequency, and by clicking on 'radioplayerAM' at manxradio.com  




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