Parish elections held yesterday have seen Douzeniers elected in St Martin’s, St Peter Port, and the Vale.

The parishes had voted to defer their elections with polling stations opened at each Douzaine room yesterday.

Most other parishes had elected new Douzeniers during meetings last month.

As is often the case with parish elections, turnout was low at the polls yesterday.

In the Vale, 163 people voted for the six candidates with Anne Setters, Martine Ellis, Terry Ashworth, and Julie Creed being elected for a four year term on the Douzaine. Janine Le Cras was elected for a one year term.

In St Martin’s, 337 people voted – representing an 11% turnout – with Peter Dorey, Cynthia Cormack MBE, and Christine Guerin each elected.

202 votes were cast in St Peter Port – representing an 2.98% turnout. Evita Bormane, Gabriele Betley, Marianne Muduviwa, David McGuigan, and Shaun Broughton each elected for a four-year term of office, and Rupert Morris and Rosemary Henderson each elected for two years and one year respectively.

What does a Douzaine do?

Guernsey has ten parishes which each have their own douzaine with a Dean and varying numbers of Douzeniers. Each parish also has a senior and junior Constable.

Douzeniers are representatives of their parishioners and are responsible for the vision and direction of the parish. The main commitment for a Douzenier is the monthly meeting of the Douzaine to discuss parish affairs. These include:

  • collecting the parish rates and ensuring funds are well spent promoting and enhancing the assets of the parish;
  • maintaining parish property; 
  • giving feedback on local planning applications; 
  • inspecting hedges, streams and dangerous roads and walls; 
  • collecting household refuse; 
  • issuing liquor and other licences to local businesses; 
  • signposting parishioners to States’ committees; and 
  • taking part in the election of Jurats and commemorative events.

Douzeniers may also focus on a particular aspect of the work of the douzaine or join a specific sub-committee – for example, producing a parish magazine or organising the parish’s contribution to Floral Guernsey.

Each Douzenier is elected for four years. Terms are staggered, which means that every year there are at least three seats up for election – with four in the Vale and five in St. Peter Port, which have more Douzeniers than the other parishes.

A charter exists between the States and the Douzaines outlining their relationship. It was signed in 2011 by Deputy Lyndon Trott, who at that time was the island’s senior-most politician. On behalf of the States, he agreed to give Douzaines opportunities to comment on matters of policy which would affect their parishes before the States made decisions about them.

Work to rewrite the Douzaine Charter started in 2023.

That is being undertaken by the Douzaine Liaison Group, which acts as a reference point for the Douzaines to “facilitate communication between States’ committees and parish authorities”.