Fiona O'Malley (Independent)

The boundary commission broke one of its own rules of establishment, namely, that where possible it should not break a county boundary. Unfortunately however, as soon as such proposals enter the political sphere for Members to discuss, it appears as though they only do so from the perspective of political self-interest. Consequently, Members were reluctant to take on the responsibility of proposing that the commission should repeat the exercise because it had broken the county boundaries. Moreover, all Members are aware that the integrity of the county boundary is somewhat sacrosanct. This demonstrates to me the need for an independent electoral commission to establish itself in order that elections are run accurately, fairly and independently.