CONTESTED elections will take place at only two of Wednesday’s parish public meetings. Douzenier seats in St Saviour’s and St Peter’s will go to the vote, while all other parish officials will be elected unopposed.
Dean of St Saviour’s douzaine Peter Bott said that while the situation was healthy in his parish, it did not seem to be the same elsewhere.
‘What surprised me the most was that there were a couple of parishes ‘St Martin’s and Vale’ that did not have nominations for constables, which is worrying,’ he said.
‘It’s very disappointing when you hear people criticising the States, yet they don’t seem to want to come forward and stand for election.’
He had hoped that the abolition of procureurs for the poor in some parishes would have encouraged people to stand for other positions, but that did not seem to be the case.
Three candidates will do battle for two douzenier seats in both St Saviour’s and St Peter’s.
In the former, sitting douzenier Stan Bichard will face competition from current senior constable Mark de Garis and Ladies’ College principal Margaret Macdonald.
In St Peter’s, another sitting douzenier, Peter Martel, will face challenges from junior constable Julian de Garis Parker and Gloria Dudley-Owen. Mr Martel is Mrs Dudley-Owen’s proposer.
Vice-chairman of the Guernsey Douzaine Council Andrew Sauvarin said that in his view, the quality of candidates was more important than the quantity.
‘It doesn’t matter how many come forward, it’s about who they are,’ he said. ‘It’s about having new people who are prepared to work hard.’
He said the nominees for the douzenier seats in his Torteval parish, Evan Ozanne and Gary Cook, were ideal candidates for the position.
Each parish’s elections have been held on the same night since the douzaines tried to raise their profile following the abolition of the role of douzaine representative in the States. Full details of the elections will be published again in Tuesday’s Gazette Officielle.
Nine of the 10 parish meetings start at 7.30pm, with St Andrew’s the exception at 6.30.
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