MHKs explain their 'no vote' decision in chief minister election

Cannan and Moorhouse spoilt their papers

The two MHKs who chose to spoil their papers in the vote for a new chief minister have been explaining their decisions.

Chris Thomas secured 16 votes while Kirrie Jenkins received six in yesterday's (Tuesday 13 October) sitting of the House of Keys.

Two of the 24 members - Arbory, Castletown Malew MHK Jason Moorhouse and Ayre and Michael's Alfred Cannan - abstained.

Manx Radio asked Mr Moorhouse for an interview, but he said he wanted to post about his decisions on social media instead.

In his statement, he explains that he hugely values having a vote and uses it with great care, and that he's only ever had a 'spoilt vote' recorded once before. 

Mr Moorhouse says he had been grading each answer given by each of the candidates during the debate and that Mr Thomas was 'clearly his favourite' there.

However, he says he was still divided and decided the 'simple option' was to vote yes for both candidates.

While recognising doing so produced a null result, Mr Moorhouse believes "both offered a new dawn, which is what the Island needs".

He also noted that his vote would not have changed the final result.

Meanwhile, Manx Radio has also invited Mr Cannan to take part in an interview, but he said he wanted to wait to give Mr Thomas some time to settle into the role first.