Meeting to appoint a new Council of Ministers
26th January 2024
On Tuesday 30 January, the States Assembly will convene at 9.30am to appoint a new Council of Ministers. The meeting will take place in the States Chamber and is open for the public to attend, as well as being broadcast live via Public-I.
Proposing candidates
Deputy Farnham, as Chief Minister designate, must provide the Greffier of the States with a declaration setting out the States Members he wishes to nominate for each Ministerial role by 9.30am on Monday 29 January.
During Tuesday's Meeting, Deputy Farnham will propose these Ministerial candidates, and States Members will then have the opportunity to nominate their own preferred candidates for each Ministerial role.
As Tuesday's States Meeting progresses, the Chief Minister designate may choose to amend his preferred candidates for certain positions in response to appointments made by the Assembly.
The Chief Minister designate decides the order in which the Ministerial roles will be proposed.
Speeches and question time
Each candidate will give a speech for up to ten minutes and answer questions from the Assembly for up to twenty minutes before the Assembly votes.
Candidates for the same Ministerial office cannot be present or have access to each other's speeches or question time. When a candidate is giving their speech and being questioned, the other candidates for that role will leave the Chamber.
Uncontested candidates are still required to speak and answer questions put forward by the Assembly, however there is no vote for their role, they are automatically appointed.
Voting
If the appointment is contested, the Assembly will vote for their preferred candidate, or have the option to abstain. The candidate that receives more than half of the votes cast is appointed. In instances where there are more than two candidates, if no candidate has more than half of the votes, the candidate with the lowest number of votes must withdraw from the contest and another vote then takes place.
The results of how each States Member voted will be made public via a news story on the States Assembly website.
Once all eleven ministers are appointed, the Chief Minister designate will officially become Chief Minister. The Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers will then form a Government and start work on their new Strategic Plan.
A notification of when each candidate begins their speech and the results of each vote will be shared on the States Assembly X (formerly Twitter) page throughout the meeting. A summary of the meeting will be shared at the end of each day on the news section of the States Assembly website.
It is expected that the meeting will run into Wednesday (31 January) next week, possibly beyond.
Subsequent appointments
Depending on the outcome of the Ministerial appointments, a number of Committees and Scrutiny Panels may also need to be reconstituted. The appointment of any new Chairs/President of the following is expected to take place at the start of the next meeting of the States Assembly, beginning on Tuesday 6 February:
- Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC)
- Public Accounts Committee and Scrutiny Panels
- Scrutiny Liaison Committee
- Planning Committee
In the event that a new appointment is needed for the Chair or President of a body, a similar format is followed to Ministerial appointments; whereby nominations are made by a Member of the Assembly followed by candidates delivering a speech and answering questions from the Assembly. Voting is taken to ascertain a majority consensus on the appointment, should more than one nomination be made. In the event that any Committee or Panel needs new Members (aside from the Chair or President), no speeches or questioning are required and the appointments take place via ballot during the meeting.
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