Election observers call for tighter political finance rules in Jersey

Independent observers of Jersey’s 2026 election have called for greater transparency around political spending and campaign funding.

The Election Observers Mission, which visited the island in May, said Jersey’s political finance rules should be strengthened to ensure a fairer and more transparent system. The mission has previously observed elections in 2018 and 2022.

Under current law, candidates must declare their election expenses. However, concerns were raised over support provided by organisations such as Value Jersey, which describes itself as a political movement rather than a party.

Value Jersey did not submit a financial report, despite some candidates declaring support received from the organisation. The observers said the law was unclear over whether Value Jersey should disclose its own spending and funding.

The report also highlighted concerns over the introduction of Automatic Voter Registration (AVR), which faced operational and data-accuracy issues due to limited preparation time.

Other areas identified for improvement included tackling misinformation, reviewing the counting process and publishing election results more efficiently.

The mission made nine recommendations, including stronger oversight of political finance, an independent review of electoral boundaries, a full audit of the AVR system and a clearer complaints process.

It also called for complete, timely and machine-readable election results to be published for every constituency and polling station, including figures for valid, blank and invalid ballots.