THE turnout for the South-East hustings was lower than expected, according to chairman Dudley Jehan.
About 260 St Martin’s and St Andrew’s parishioners turned out to quiz the 11 candidates on topics ranging from the possible closure of St Andrew’s Primary School to the island’s future economic development,
But it had been hoped that more than 300 would attend. Mr Jehan (pictured) said organisers had considered using St Martin’s Community Centre as a venue, but had decided against it because they thought it would be too small. The hustings was held in the Grammar School hall.
‘We have a lovely new community centre in the south-east and I know it was thought about as a venue.
‘Maybe in four years’ time we would need to look at hosting it there instead,’ said Mr Jehan, who chaired the hustings in 2004.
He said the bigger venue might have had an impact on how the audience behaved because it had been more subdued than in previous years.
‘Last time there was a lot more fun and spirit.
‘It was a bit quiet this time around, but the candidates did all right.’
The meeting closed with former States member and conseiller Ron Marquis standing up and commending members of the current House who will not be standing again.
This included Deputy Bill Bell, who will shortly end his term as South-East representative and Public Services minister.
Deputy Bell, who was at the meeting, thanked Mr Marquis for his kind words. He also said that there was a good selection of candidates and it would be nice not voting for himself this year.
St Andrew’s parishioner John Hubert said he had enjoyed the evening, despite problems with the sound system, and had seen some outstanding candidates. Others, he said, did not seem so sure of themselves.
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One Article Comment
Could this be because there was no publicity about it? I wanted to attend but only heard on the radio about those in the West and the Vale!
It seems our prospective candidates are not really putting themselves forward to be challenged by the public they expect to vote for them. This is also reinforced by the lack of real world contact information supplied on the States website listing election candidates. Half have no phone or email addresses listed. Are they working with snail mail and is this the backward attitude that we want from people leading us into the future?