As the results started to flow in, so too did the conclusions: Guernsey was voting for change.
Some high profile new faces plus two sitting deputies dumped and the mood of voters was clear. And yet given there was always going to be a minimum of 17 incomers with the number of sitting members retiring, the potential for wholesale change was exceptionally high.
Instead, local electors exercised considerable caution and avoided electing many of the more colourful candidates and preferred to go for those whom they considered could best do the job.
And that, perhaps, was the underlying message of yesterday’s election. While there were clear doorstep issues, the subtext was always how the outgoing States had performed and the direction it was taking the island.
A generally reduced share of the vote for Policy Council members and the price paid by deputy Education minister Wendy Morgan over student loans and the department’s difficulties all pointed to it, as did the perceived significance of zero-10 on individuals.
As Carol Steere remarked, sweeping into St Peter Port North after her absence from local politics, the priority for members is restoring public confidence in the States of Guernsey.
That is not an impossible task. But central to it will be showing islanders that the States can work as a team and take coordinated action, avoiding the factions and factionalism that left the previous House riven.
But it will be difficult.
Public opinion on the economy is divided and many of the new members will have clear views on what the future should hold. In addition, Charles Parkinson and his supporters have a clear mandate with his success and every possibility of his securing the ministership of Treasury and Resources.
How the new House copes with new members seeking to amend existing policy and how T&R adjusts to any radical change of direction will be particularly challenging and a test of any administration.
Responding to that with a new chief minister and Policy Council makes the task even harder - as does the knowledge that islanders will be watching very carefully indeed.
Which is why the new Chamber would be well advised to make haste slowly, at least in its early days.
2 Article Comments
You say “as did the perceived significance of zero-10 on individuals”
I suggest the word that should have been used is reality.
It is the reality of the cost of the official zero 10 package that has led to many of the big names just about getting in. If there had been a stronger candidate field in most of the parishes then more sitting deputies would be unemployed.
Looking at the positive side the result is good for Guernsey. The finance industry will still be protected, but hopefully the cost will be more fairly distributed.
The next few months will show just how nonsensical the scare stories about changing zero 10 have been
The election displayed the faults of the system over here, although very difficult to organise island wide voting is what people want, to have a say in only 6 of 40 odd people is not a good system. having said that, hopefully the right men and women will be given jobs they are qualified to do, like putting mr parkinson in charge of t & r, scott ogier keeping an eye on our waste issues. I hope we will be represented by decent folk with the arrogance of the last 4 years done away with.i loathed being represented overseas by torode, please let’s not hand those reigns over to the likes of trott.