The parliamentary process leading up to the appointment of a new Chief Minister has changed yet again.
Unless there is a late twist, Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Kirrie Jenkins and Douglas Central MHK Chris Thomas will both be hoping to win in a two-way contest tomorrow (October 13).
After the sitting tomorrow has been completed it will mean that each of the past three chief ministers has reached that position in a different process!
In 2016, the Chief Minister was voted in by the whole of Tynwald. That changed to just the House of Keys in 2021.
Now, thanks to more changes approved two years ago, there are further tweaks to the system, although the vote still rests solely with the House of Keys.
Questions to Candidates
There are a number of changes from the previous process in 2021.
One is that MHKs will be allowed to table questions to the candidates. They must be submitted by midday today (October 12)
A question paper must be published by 5pm ahead of tomorrow’s sitting, which starts at 10am.
But, possibly even more significant, the candidates will be called on to make opening and closing statements.
In 2021, the people nominating and seconding the candidates made speeches and then it was straight to the vote.
However, tomorrow’s sitting will go ahead like this:
Opening statements, then questions, then closing statements and then a ballot to decide the “preferred nominee” from the candidates.
Finally, a confirmatory vote will be required, with a minimum 13 votes needed. There are 24 MHKs.
What if No One Gets Enough Votes?
If the Speaker decides there is no chance of a candidate reaching 13 votes as a confirmed nominee, they may adjourn the sitting to allow for fresh nominations.
The sitting could be adjourned to either later the same day or the next day.
Footnote
Interestingly, in 2021, Thomas tabled an urgent motion calling for statements from the candidates to be allowed and for that to be followed by a question and answer session.
However, he did not gain support.