 |
Branches of Tynwald | |
The House of Keys and Legislative Council meet in their own chambers on the Tuesdays that Tynwald Court does not sit. Their primary role is the making of legislation.House of KeysThe Keys has 24 directly elected Members who are returned once every 5 years by the Manx voters. The Island is divided into 15 constituencies, some returning one Member (such as Middle), some two (such as the Douglas constituencies) and two returning three Members (Onchan and Rushen). The voters use the Simple Majority System of voting, by which those candidates who gain the most votes win. An absolute majority (i.e. over 50% of the vote) is not required. There was an experiment with Proportional Representation in the elections during the 1980s but the system reverted to the "First Past the Post" method for the 1991 General Election.The Members of the Keys elect their own Speaker who presides over the sessions. Keys business is chiefly concerned with the making of primary legislation. All Bills, be they Government Bills or Private Members' Bills, have to pass through several stages; First Reading, Second Reading, Clauses Stage and Third Reading. A full description of each may be found in the linked Keys website. Once a Bill has successfully passed these stages in the Keys it goes to the third chamber, the Legislative Council. Legislative CouncilThe Council is a much smaller body. It has 11 Members, three of whom sit by virtue of their office, namely the President, the Bishop of Sodor and Man and the Attorney General. The remaining eight are elected by the House of Keys for a five year period. To avoid all 8 seats coming up for election at the same time, they are elected in groups of four in different years. The Keys may elect anyone to sit on the Council, but in practice they tend to elect retired Keys Members or existing Keys Members who are willing to serve in the Council instead. In the Council Bills go through the same stages as in the Keys.Being a smaller chamber, the Council can often suggest useful amendments to make the proposed law more effective, and its role is therefore primarily as a revising chamber. Any amendments made by the Council must return to the Keys for their approval. If the Keys do not agree and the view of the two Houses is different, a Conference may be called consisting of representatives of both Houses. Ultimately, however, a Bill can be passed without Council approval providing it is passed again by the Keys in the subsequent session. Like the other two branches of Tynwald, full details of the work of the Legislative Council can be found on its linked website. |
||