#Jsy2018: Brée aims to be the big cheese

Tuesday 08 May 2018

A third candidate has thrown his hat into the ring to be the island's next Chief Minister, if elected to the States on May 16th.

Simon Brée is aiming to follow the former St. Clement Deputy Ian Gorst into the top seat in the island's government, if he gets enough support in the forthcoming senatorial poll.

His fellow Senatorial candidate, Lyndon Farnham, has also indicated that if elected, he will stand for Chief Minister, a position which is chosen by the candidate's fellow politicians, rather than by the general public. 

Along with the current incumbent, Ian Gorst, who will seeking a third term at the head of the Council of Ministers, it could mean a three-way fight - if all of them get past the ballot box.

Other candidates may also emerge, depending on how the Senatorial poll goes, with the three who have so far confirmed they will be running needing to do well in the island-wide vote if they are to claim they have a mandate for the Chief Minister's office - although there is no formal requirement for the job to go to a Senator, with Parish Deputies already holding senior Ministerial roles, such as Susie Pinel at Social Security and Steve Luce at Planning and Environment.

With fewer than ten days to go until the election, it's not clear how Deputy Brée's announcement will affect his chances of election - but he says he has made it in order to "challenge and prevent" Senator Gorst from achieving a third term:

"Having given this great consideration, I promise the electorate, that if elected as Senator, and the Senatorial voting figures show that the people of this Island wish to have new leadership, then I shall put myself forward for the role of Chief Minister.

"Whilst it is the new States Assembly that will ultimately vote in the new Chief Minister, this election offers the voting public the opportunity to have great influence over who will be the next Chief Minister by casting their votes accordingly. Only those candidates elected with a significant Island wide mandate will be able to successfully challenge and prevent the current Chief Minister from being elected for a third term of office."

The polls will close at 20:00 on 16 May. At that time, Express will be publishing the results of an exit poll in the senatorial contest to give an early indication of which options voters may have chosen. 

Click here for the full list of senatorial candidates.