The latest staging of democracy in the Isle of Man will take place later today when the candidates for the Legislative Council are finally revealed.
Under a new system created by Tynwald, MHKs have known who was seeking to land the £71,000+ a year gig for some time, but the public have been kept in the dark.
The islanders who will seek MHKs support have until 12pm today to get the backing of at least four MHKs to be confirmed as candidates.
A formal application was required to be submitted over a month ago on January 9, but that information has been kept secret until today, unless those people decided to announce it themselves.
Life in LegCo
The Legislative Council predominantly acts as a revising chamber for legislation sent up by MHKs, with members also fulfilling roles in departments and on boards.
The selected members will be paid a basic salary of £71,659 for their five-year term (plus increase subject to PCS pay rises).
Of the four members whose time is up, Peter Greenhill, Bill Henderson, Rob Mercer and Kerry Sharpe , only Mr Greenhill has announced his intention to retire.
Not elected by the public, the role of LegCo and how members are selected has been criticised in recent weeks, with Michael Josem of the Manx Tax Payers’ Alliance trying and failing to have the names released under FoI, while MHKs have expressed reservations about how it has been handled.
In the most recent social attitudes survey LegCo scored worse than every part of the island’s political system in terms of trust and satisfaction, with the exception of the Council of Ministers.
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