And then there were four...another candidate stands for Senator

Friday 22 July 2016

A fourth candidate is to stand in September’s Senatorial by-election.

The position’s come about due to the shock resignation of Senator Zoe Cameron.

She quit last week in frustration saying she’d been cold-shouldered: “Perhaps if the Council of Ministers started answering their own emails and listening like I have, without officers present, to the many legitimate concerns that exist. Without worrying about reputation or compensation payouts, concentrating on what is best for our island. Jersey would not need to spend millions on lawyers, experts consultants, inquiries and investigations that are driving good people out of Jersey.”

The latest candidate to declare is 32-year-old lawyer Christian May. He unsuccessfully stood as a deputy in St Helier No. 3 in 2014. He’s the chairman of the equality charity Liberate, and headed up the recent campaign to stop the building of a new hospital on People’s Park.

In a press release Mr May says: “Through my work with members of our Island community I have been conscious of the importance of listening to the public; be that through open meetings, surveys, or face to face. Their passion and vision for the future of Jersey should never be underestimated. We need to engender a politics of engagement and two-way communication on this Island; not one in which the electorate feel either uninformed or patronised.”

The first person to declare was former Senator Sarah Ferguson. She’s keen to make a return to politics after narrowly failing to get re-elected as a senator in the last general election in 2014. She lost out to Senator Philip Ozouf, and demanded a recount. It showed fewer than 300 votes separated them.

Also keen to get back in the House is former Deputy Guy de Faye. He was one of 18 candidates who stood for election as senator in 2014. He finished in 15th place with 3,381 votes. Previously he’s been a St Helier deputy, and was Transport and Technical Services Minister.

Jersey’s only political party Reform also says it’ll be putting forward a candidate. Who that will be is expected to be announced after it’s held a meeting on Tuesday 26^th July.

The by-election is being held on Wednesday 7^th September. Nomination night will be at the Town Hall at 7.30pm on Tuesday 9^th August. Voters will have until noon on Monday 8th August to ensure that they are on the main Electoral Register and up to noon on Wednesday 31st August to be on the Supplementary Register.