In total 82 people have stepped forward for the chance to be amongst Guernsey’s next political casting.
It’s a steep drop off from the mammoth 119 the public had to pick from last time around.
In fact, it’s only one more to pick from when looking a little further back still, with 81 candidates across the island in 2016 when Guernsey was still voting via the district system which in reality was more or less along parish lines.
There’s also some other interesting bits of information to find when comparing the upcoming election, Guernsey’s second chance at island-wide voting, with elections of yesteryear.
Here are a few we’ve spotted…
The gender split
Out of the 119 candidates proposed in 2020, 28 of the potential candidates were women making up just 24% of the possible choices.
This time round the gender split is much closer to being equal – but it is still a long way off.
There are 27 female candidates for the 2025 election- one fewer than in 2020, but there are far fewer men standing overall too.
In Guernsey’s first island wide election, 91 men were on the list, however a dramatic drop means there are just 55 on the docket this time round.
This means women make up 32.92% of the nominations list – a long way of parity, but getting closer.
Familiar faces?
Of the 82 candidates nominated for June’s election 30 are current deputies. They are: Yvonne Burford, Adrian Gabriel, Simon Vermeulen, John Gollop, Gavin St Pier, David de Lisle, Rob Prow, Steve Falla, Jonathan Le Tocq, Sasha Kazantseva-Miller, Andy Cameron, Lindsay de Sausmarez, Liam McKenna, Nick Moakes, Andrea Dudley-Owen, Mark Helyar, Victoria Oliver, Peter Ferbrache, Aidan Matthews, John Dyke, Sue Aldwell, Tina Bury, Marc Leadbeater, Chris Blin, Christopher Le Tissier, Carl Meerveld, Sam Haskins, Neil Inder, Simon Fairclough, and Charles Parkinson.
Of the remaining 52 candidates, a number have previously been deputies – they are: Marc Laine, Paul Luton, Andy Le Lievre, Mary Lowe, Garry Collins, David Nussbaumer, and Mary Lowe. Of those some stood down at previous elections, one resigned during a previous term of office, and some lost their seats at past elections.
Of the 82, 45 have previously stood for the States while Jez Mercer, Steph Shore, Luke Graham, Andy Sloan, Rob Curgenven, Thomas Moore, Tammy Menteshvili, Paul Montague, Kerry Barnfather, Munazza Malik, David Dorrity, Lexi Lundberg, Chris Machon, Jennifer Strachan, Andrew Niles, Nikki Symons, Tim Carre, Steve Williams, George Oswald, Sally Gilman, Bruno Kay-Mouat, Haley Camp, Lee Van Katwyk, Sally Rochester, Susie Gallienne, David Goy, Jayne Ozanne, Kerensa Gardner, Dicky Parmar, Rhona Humphreys, Sofi Noakes, Tom Rylatt, Stuart Jehan, and Heidi Almonte are all first times.
Adrian Dilcock, Diane Mitchell, Garry Collins, Munazza Malik, Thomas Moore, Rosie Henderson, and Christopher Nicolle are all current or former parish politicians.
At least three candidates have been non-voting members working with States committees. They are George Oswald, Andrew Niles, and Ross Le Brun – working with HSC, Economic Development and Employment and Social Security respectively.
Party lines
Political parties were the name of the game for many last time round.
The first fully island wide election was expected to introduce party politics to Guernsey – and for a short while it did look like it might.
Many seemed to see membership with a political party as a possible ticket to a seat in the States of Deliberation in 2020 with the Alliance Party and the Guernsey Party both registered.
There was also the Partnership of Independence, (which wasn’t a party but we all thought it was…).
Those groups are all absent this time round. There’s also no sign of the Islanders Association which had essentially disappeared before the 2020 election but we’ve seen some people asking about it recently.
There was some success for political parties in 2020, with 16 seats going to members of the Guernsey Party and the Partnership of Independents at the last election.
This year only six of the 82 candidates have joined a party. That leaves 76 of the election hopefuls running as independents.
That’s actually not far off 2020’s figures, when we had 78 hopefuls seeking election as independents, and 22 of those doing so successfully.
The lack of parties may therefore account for the drop off in overall candidate numbers, because looking at it as a percentage, it really strikes home how few are attempting to run together as a unit this time round.
In 2020, independent candidates made up 65.5% of the voting options, in 2025 that’s up to 92.7%.
The only political party giving it a go in 2025 is Forward Guernsey.
Deputy Gavin St Pier’s latest reincarnation of a party is affiliated to Future Guernsey which he was political advisor too when it launched last year, but he’s since stepped back from that role.
Deputy St Pier’s Partnership of Independents was the most successful out of the three parties in 2020, gaining 10 seats from a group of 21 hopefuls. As the front man for the Partnership of Independents, Deputy St Pier and member Deputy Heidi Soulsby, claimed first and second place respectively with more than double the number of votes secured by the candidate in 38th place (Carl Meerveld).
Deputy Mark Helyar managed to get six of his eight Guernsey Party candidates into seats in 2020 – but that soon changed with Deputy Helyar leading an exodus from the party which has since ceased to exist. He and fellow former Guernsey Party members Deputies Simon Vermeulen, Chris Le Tissier, and John Dyke are all standing as independents this time round.
Of course when it comes to success rates, the Alliance Party stole plenty of headlines five years ago, but for all the wrong reasons.
The party, which had been started by Barry Weir had 11 hopefuls vying for election. None were successful.
There were several unofficial political allegiances last time round too and we’re already seeing similar occurring before the 2025 States is chosen.
Deputies Charles Parkinson and Liam McKenna are spearheading a coalition looking to bring in changes to Guernsey’s corporate tax regime.
Express approached Deputy Parkinson asking for clarity on how many candidates had signed up, and currently, as of writing, that number sits at 15. That’s just shy of the total number of successful candidates who ran as part of a party last time round, (16).
New blood
In 2020, off the back of the first corona-virus lockdown, amid a surge of community feel-good fever, and the excitement of Guernsey’s first fully island wide vote, 20 of the 38 spaces available went to newcomers.
A whole host of faces who had been stalwarts in the States were sent packing, with just 18 successfully finding themselves re-elected. Among those were past Vale poll toppers Matt Fallaize and Mary Lowe. He has chosen not to stand this year but Mrs Lowe is.
Of those deputies who were reelected in 2020, some did so in style.
Of the top 10 elected in 2020, eight were incumbents, regaining seats from the previous term. The only two newcomers who cracked into that leading cohort were Deputies Mark Helyar, (4th), and Sue Aldwell, (10th).
In 2025, out of the 82 that are currently looking to drum up support, 30 have spent their last five years living and breathing the life of a Deputy, whilst the rest includes ‘newbies’, or familiar faces returning to the fray.
If we decide to cast our eyes back just a little further still, in 2016, the split of newcomers to returning States members was 18/20, a reversal of the split in 2020, the time before that, (2012), it was just as close when vying for 45 seats, with 24 of those going to Deputies who were looking to retain a place in the chamber.
You can find the full lists of nominations for this year’s election from the first day HERE, second day HERE, and the third and final day HERE.