The election for the single seat in the district was called following the death of the former Deputy Richard Rondel.
The ten hopeful campaigners are: Francesca Ahier, John Baker, Guy de Faye, Lyndsay Feltham, Inna Gardiner, Geraint Jennings, Nick Le Cornu, Anthony Lewis, Andrea Mallet and Gordon Troy. The diverse group came together for their first hustings which took place at First Tower School and was attended by around 50 people. The first hustings meeting was chaired by St. Helier Chief Executive Officer Jason Turner.
Some of the parishioners had questions for those wanting to represent them in the States Chamber, one of whom, Chris Toudic, asked the candidates what they think the “number one issue facing the island” is at the moment.
Pictured: The first of the by-election hustings kicked off at First Tower School where the wannabe representatives addressed their prospective parishioners.
Former Deputy Nick Le Cornu, “rents and the price of housing” are the biggest issues facing the island right now.
“For certain social groups, for those who actually cannot afford to buy, cannot get on because of the high prices, rents are going up… That needs to end”, Mr Le Cornu said.
Andrea Mallet spoke of several issues that are facing Jersey currently including, “the hospital saga, failing to look after our islanders, minimum wage, poverty in the island… the inefficiency in the public service, immigration, the environment, the delivery of affordable housing and the failure to listen to the needs of our communities.”
Reform Jersey candidate said: “I do believe that the current public sector problems is actually the number one issue facing the island today.”
Procureur du Bien Public Geraint Jennings said that for him, “sustainability” is the biggest problem that Jersey faces.
Pictured: Procureur du Bien Public Geraint Jennings said that “sustainability” is the biggest issue facing Jersey right now.
Differently, Jersey Action Group campaigner John Baker said that “population” was top of the list for him, commenting that “everything goes back to population.”
In response to the question from the parishioner, former Senatorial candidate Gordon Troy said that the biggest issue was “really how government focuses finance in the right place.”
With a different take, Inna Gardiner said “for me, who comes from outside the island… I would like to see community – together we are stronger.”
Francesca Ahier explained that the “number one issue” changes depending on the timescale, noting that “climate change” is the biggest long-term problem, but for her it was progressing the Future Hospital project which needed to be the highest on the agenda.
Guy de Faye says the “fundamental issue” is “a completely flawed economic growth policy and a population growth that doesn’t even have a policy in place yet.”
Former journalist Anthony Lewis agreed, saying that population was the “number one issue”.
Pictured: The first hustings was chaired by St. Helier CEO Jason Turner.
“We all know that the population is too high and that Ministers have ignored this problem because they don’t want to face the facts,” Mr Lewis stated.
Elsewhere in the meeting, the discussion focused particularly on the issues of the public sector pay dispute and the powers of States’ Chief Executive Charlie Parker, the location for the new Hospital, the future of Fort Regent and care provision for senior citizens.
To catch up on the latest in the by-election campaign, a video of last night’s entire hustings meeting was filmed by vote.je.
Video: The entire hustings meeting was captured by vote.je and is now available online (Youtube/Vote.je).
The next hustings meeting will take place next Tuesday 12 February at Centre Point Nursery (Old La Pouquelaye School) and the last meeting will be on Thursday 21 Feb at the Town Hall. Both meetings will start at 19:00.
Islanders living in St. Helier District 3/4 and aged over 16 are being encouraged to register to vote, which they can do by clicking here. The election will take place on 27 February.
