House of Keys Yn Kiare as Feed | |
|---|---|
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| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 24 |
 | |
Political groups | Speaker (1)
Others (14)
|
| Elections | |
| Multiple non-transferable vote | |
Last election | 23 September 2021 |
Next election | September 2026 |
| Meeting place | |
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| Chamber of the House of Keys, Legislative Buildings,Douglas | |
| Website | |
| www | |
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TheHouse of Keys (Manx:Yn Kiare as Feed) is the directly electedlower house ofTynwald, the parliament of theIsle of Man, the other branch being theLegislative Council.
The oldest known reference to the name is in a document of 1417, written inLatin by an English scholar, which refers toClaves Mann[iae] (the "Keys of Man") andClaves Legis (the "Keys of Law"). There is a dispute, however, over the origin of the name. The wordkeys is thought by some to be an English corruption of a form of theNorse verbkjósa ("to choose"). However, a more likely explanation is that it is a mishearing of the Manx-language term for "four and twenty":kiare as feed[ˈkʲiːəsˈfid], the House having always had 24 members. The Manx-language name of the House remainsYn Kiare as Feed ("The Four and Twenty").
Members are known asMembers of the House of Keys (MHKs). Citizens over the age of 16 may vote, while one must be at least 18 years old and a resident of the island for three years to be elected an MHK. There are12 constituencies, mainly based on thesheadings and on local government units. (A few local government units are split between two constituencies.) Each sends two members to the House of Keys, elected byplurality voting (each elector can vote for up to two candidates). The term of the House of Keys is normally fixed at five years, but provisions exist for dissolution before the expiration of the term.
TheSpeaker of the House of Keys (SHK) is an MHK elected by the Keys as the presiding officer. The Speaker votes in the House of Keys, but, unlike other members, may abstain; however, when the vote is tied the Speaker must cast the deciding vote. The Speaker also acts as Deputy President ofTynwald Court.
The House of Keys elects 8 of the 11 members of theLegislative Council. Legislation does not usuallyoriginate in the council. (There are exceptions: for example the Equality Bill was introduced in the Legislative Council in late 2016.) Thus, the Keys have much more power than the council, which performs the function of a revising chamber.
The House of Keys meets about once each month together with the Legislative Council in a joint session calledTynwald Court. During the COVID pandemic, these meetings were more frequent. ThePresident of Tynwald, elected by both branches, presides over Tynwald Court and over the Legislative Council. Once each year, however, onTynwald Day, the Isle of Man's national day, theLieutenant Governor (or a member of the Royal Family) presides.
The House of Keys usually meets in their chamber in the Legislative Buildings inDouglas. Seating is allocated in alphabetical order by constituency name (in English) and organised into two rows. Members who received the highest number of votes in their constituency sit in the front row. On 14 March 2017 the Keys met in theOld House of Keys inCastletown, for the first time since 1874, to commemorate thesesquicentenary of the first elected House of Keys. During the COVID pandemic, these meetings were sometimes held remotely (or partly remotely).
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