Election international observers (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by Government of Jersey on behalf of the States Greffe and published on 20 July 2022.
Prepared internally, no external costs.

Request

Regarding the "International observers for the 2022 Jersey general election, can you answer the following please

A

Whose Budget does the cost of this "Observation Group" come from?

B

If there is a breakdown of figures please for

• Hotel Costs
• Flight Costs
• Food and substanance costs
• Wages for all the group

C

Is it a legal requirement to have international observers at Jersey's local elections?

Response

Costs arising from the Election Observation Mission (from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association – British Islands and Mediterranean Region) for the 2022 Elections were met from the States Assembly budget, which is administered by the States Greffe.

As of 19th July 2022, expenditure incurred amounted to £9,672 on hotel costs. Further expenditure was anticipated to cover travel and subsistence costs that had been incurred during the mission; but information on this further amount was not held at the time. Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

The appointment of election observers is not a legal requirement; but provision is made in the Elections (Jersey) Law 2022 that gives the Privileges and Procedures Committee (after consultation with the Chief Minister) the authority to appoint such observers. 

This response has been issued on behalf of the States Greffe. The States Greffe is responsible for the information held by (and on behalf of) both itself and the States Assembly.  Neither the States Assembly nor the States Greffe form part of the Government of Jersey and the Government was not involved either in the examination and retrieval of any information required for this response, nor in the drafting of the response itself

Article applied

Article 3 - Meaning of "information held by a public authority"

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b) it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.