By-elections will be held next month to fill vacant seats on two local authorities in the east of the Isle of Man.
Douglas Council and Onchan Commissioners have positions available for a term that will run until April next year.
If contested, voters in Douglas’s Derby Ward will go to the polls to elect two new members on 15 October.
Those in Onchan will be able to cast their vote to fill one vacancy the following week, on 22 October.
The Douglas Council by-election has been triggered by the resignation of Colin Cain last year and the death of Debbie Pitts in January.
Meanwhile, James Cherry resigned from the Onchan board in October 2019.
Under the island’s local authority regulations, boards must fill an empty place unless it is vacated within six months of a forthcoming election.
The all-island general election had been scheduled to take place on 23 April this year, but was delayed following the coronavirus outbreak.
Those elections will now take place in April 2021.
The government’s call for vacancies to be filled during the interim period was heavily criticised by several local authority members last month.
Among them was Douglas Council Leader David Christian, who branded the by-elections a “complete and utter waste of ratepayers' money” as the council is due to cut its membership from 18 to 12 at the general election.
Read more news from the Isle of Man https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/europe/isle_of_man
📸 Photo credit: Google
