A final report has been published by the international election observers who oversaw the island’s general election in September.

The team from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association: British Islands and Mediterranean Region (CPA BIMR), levelled criticism at polling station accessibility in the island.

In their preliminary report published in the days after the election, they stated that access for persons with disabilities to the political process in general was ’feasible but difficult’.

They also found that half of all polling stations observed were not independently accessible to voters with mobility issues because of a lack of an adequate step-free access.

In the final report published yesterday (Thursday), they said: ’In order to fully comply with the Equality Act, the electoral process should be fully accessible to persons with disabilities.

’In particular, all spaces used for the purpose of an electoral process, during the campaign and on election day, should be independently accessible.’

Reflecting on the election, Stewart Dickson MLA from the Northern Ireland Assembly said: ’This first international Election Observation Mission to the Isle of Man commends election officials for conducting an election which reflected the will of people.

’Our report has identified some areas of improvement, including accessibility for persons with disabilities and training of election staff.’

He added: ’I hope that the authorities in the Isle of Man will carefully consider our recommendations to further strengthen its democracy.’

The CPA BIMR team was invited by the Clerk of Tynwald to oversee the election, and was made up of eight members from Northern Ireland, Jersey, Malta, France, the UK and the Netherlands.

The observation came at a cost of £40,000 to the Manx government.

They were here to assess the Isle of Man general election against international standards, commitments and obligations as well as domestic laws, and found that it broadly met international standards and regional commitments.

On election day, the international observers visited 44 out of the 56 polling stations across the 12 constituencies and observed the count in four constituencies.

Alongside their criticism regarding accessibility, they made several other recommendations, including:

l Boundary deliminations - ’The Election Commission could set and follow the guiding principles of transparency, inclusivity and equality for its work reviewing boundary delimitations. The Elections (Keys and Local Authorities) Act 2020 could be amended to include those principles in the tasks of the Electoral Commission.’

l Recruitment of polling station staff - ’There should be an open recruitment and selection process for polling station staff to increase transparency and to ensure impartiality of the election administration.’

l Training deputy returning officers - ’Training for deputy returning officers should be delivered systematically to ensure a consistent implementation of legislation across all constituencies.’

l Voter registration - ’Further efforts could be undertaken by the Crown and Elections Team to develop methods to encourage registration amongst any under-represented groups.

l Women’s participation - ’Authorities should consider a review to promote measures to strengthen women’s participation in elections, in order to consolidate and improve upon the success of the number of women elected in this election, in line with international good practice.

l Training polling station staff - ’Training for polling station staff should be delivered systematically to ensure a consistent delivery of an election across the island. Training could include a specific focus on family voting and how to prevent it.

l Ballot boxes - ’Coded seals on ballot boxes should be used consistently, and should be checked by the deputy returning officer before ballot boxes are opened.’

l Verification of votes - ’In addition to verifying the number of valid ballot papers, verifying the number of votes cast could be introduced as a separate verification stage of the counting process.’

l Electoral justice - ’The Elections (Keys and Local Authorities) Act 2020 should be amended to ensure the powers of the Deputy Returning Officers are fully aligned with the Human Rights Act 2001 and relevant international standards.’

The plan to have the team scrutinise the election originated with a Tynwald motion by ex-Garff MHK Martyn Perkins.

The final report is publicly available on CPA UK’s website.