One of the candidates in tomorrow’s Douglas South by-election was not available to discuss politics with her rivals at a public meeting last night.
A requisition meeting was called in the constituency for would-be MHKs to face the public.
While Keith Fitton (Liberal Vannin), Captain Kurt Buchholz and Bill Malarkey, who lost his seat in the constituency in the 2011 general election, attended, Amy Burns did not.
Mrs Burns sent a statement to be read out to the constituents at the meeting.
It reads:
‘This is not a decision I have taken lightly to not attend this requisition meeting.
‘I will be attending another meeting arranged with other electorates (sic) of Douglas South, organised prior to this invitation.
‘Also, with the limited timeframe available and short notice I have decided to concentrate on what my electorate have asked me to do.
‘As the numbers were so low at the Douglas North meeting last week I feel this is more beneficial for my campaign and the electorate as a whole. I will also be canvassing door to door on Tuesday & Wednesday to the areas I have yet to cover.
‘I do not feel a Liberal Vannin-engineered requisition meeting would be more beneficial to my campaign than answering what the electorate have asked of me, and they are my one and only agenda.
‘However, if anyone in attendance would like to send me any questions or arrange a meeting in the short space of time left then I will be more than happy to do this. During my campaign I have been attending several meetings arranged by the electorate and this has proven so beneficial to me and them alike.
‘If I am blessed and elected on Thursday my intention is to introduce weekly surgeries and be available to everyone. That is my preferred method of communicating, being more focused on the individual(s) concerned rather than media constructed presentations which limit people’s interactions with me as we have all witnessed over the last few weeks.’
Mrs Burns has written on this website and the Isle of Man Examiner to say why she thinks she deserves to be an MHK
{http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/politics/douglas-south-amy-burns-1-7267836|Click here to read it.}
On Isle of Man Newspapers’ Facebook page, Mrs Burns has responded to one reader who said: ‘If she is not prepared to stand up in front of and face the electorate at this stage, does that tell us something?’
Mrs Burns replied: ‘I understand your response and apologise that you feel this way.
‘Unfortunately I didn’t get an invite till extremely short notice when another meeting had been put in place.
‘I have conducted and stood up in front of five meetings with up to 60 people over the past few weeks and it has served well and given electorate a chance to ask me what they needed to. But thank you for your feedback.’
Four candidates are standing the Douglas South election tomorrow. There are three standing in a by-election for Douglas North.
Each has written for us to say why they’d be the best candidate.
{http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/keys-by-elections-douglas-north-and-douglas-south-go-to-the-polls-1-7268317|Click here for links}
Requisition meetings are frequently called before elections.
For example, {http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/120-pack-into-hall-to-hear-candidates-1-5680437|this video} shows one in Douglas West two years ago.