There was a shock result in the Legislative Council elections today as two incumbents lost their seats.

Only Rob Mercer successfully defended his seat, topping the poll with 19 votes in the first round of voting.

Out are long-serving politician Bill Henderson and Kerry Sharpe. The fourth vacant seat had previously been held by Peter Greenhill who did not put his name forward for re-election.

Mr Mercer was joined by Financial Services Authority board member Peter Reid, who also got 19 votes, and engineer and businessman Gary Clueit, who picked up 13.

Social worker Kirstie Morphet, had received 12 votes in the first round of voting but then picked up 15 in the second round to secure the fourth seat.

They will serve as MLCs for a five-year term ending the last day of February 2030.

There were 15 candidates in the LegCo election which was the first to be held under new rules which saw the candidates fill in an application form.

After the vote, Speaker Juan Watterson thanked the candidates for taking part in the ‘very public job application’ which he said was ‘important for our uniquely Manx democracy’.

Under the new voting procedure, there were no speeches by the proposers and seconders to introduce the candidates. Speaker Mr Watterson said there had been extensive coverage of the hustings.

Following their election, the four successful applicants were escorted the robing room to receive their warrants of election.

One candidate was unlucky to miss out on a seat. Matthew Gough secured 14 votes in the second round of voting, one more than Mr Clueit received, but had picked up only 11 in the first round.

Bill Henderson, who was MHK for Douglas North from 1998 to 2010 when he was elected to the upper house, and re-elected twice since then, picked up just seven votes in both voting rounds.

As a long-serving political member of Treasury, he has played a significant role in successive Budgets

Kerry Sharpe, was first elected to LegCo in 2018 and re-elected in 2020, received 10 votes in the first round and 12 in the second. She took over as Children’s Champion in 2022.