When is the election and how do I vote?

The Isle of Man general election takes place on Thursday 24 September.

Voters go to the polls every five years to elect 24 members of the House of Keys (MHKs).

There are 82 candidates standing.

But how do you vote in the Isle of Man election and when will the results be known?

The Isle of Man has 12 constituencies and voters will be electing two MHKs in each constituency.

The constituencies are:

You can find your constituency using the Island Democracy, external map from the Isle of Man Government.

The Isle of Man allows people to register to vote in elections as long as they have been a resident for at least 12 months, are over the age of 16 and are not subject to any legal incapacity to vote.

Manx students away at university are eligible to vote as their Manx address is considered their usual address.

Unlike in the UK, convicted prisoners are eligible to vote and you do not need to show ID in order to vote.

If you are voting in person, you will have been sent a polling card confirming that you are registered to vote and where your polling stations is. You are able to vote at any polling station in your constituency.

You do not need your polling card with you to vote.

When you arrive at your polling station, a clerk will mark your name off the register and give you a ballot paper.

You will then cast your vote and put the ballot paper inside the ballot box, as directed by the polling station staff.

It is an offence to take photos inside the polling station to protect voter secrecy.

If you have applied for a postal vote but not yet posted it, you can give it into a polling station in your constituency.

If you have a medical emergency or urgent business that requires you to travel away from the island, you can nominate a person to vote on your behalf through a proxy vote.

You need to apply for a proxy vote by 5pm on Wednesday 23 September. You need to do this by contacting the Crown and Elections team to apply, external.

Polling stations in the Isle of Man election open at 8:00 on Thursday 24 September and close at 20:00.

Counting starts after the polls have closed and will take place in the evening and into the night. The deputy returning officer will then declare the number of votes each candidate has received, the total number of voters voting in each constituency and the number of rejected ballots.

The elected MHKs will then be sworn in on 29 September.

The House of Keys will sit on 13 October to nominate a chief minister.