Contested election for Town Constable

Thursday 27 October 2022

A pair of former educationalists will go head to head in the election of a Constable of St. Peter Port next week.

Jenny Tasker retired as Head Teacher of La Mare de Carteret High School in 2001. Diane Mitchell was Director of Education at Portsmouth City Council until 2013 before retiring to Guernsey.

They will contest one vacancy for Constable at the St. Peter Port parish meeting on Wednesday 2 November. 

The successful candidate will serve a three-year term until the end of 2025.

Pictured: Jenny Tasker (left) and Diane Mitchell.

Ms Mitchell was elected to the St. Peter Port Douzaine in November 2021.

She is proposed for the office of Constable by the Vice Dean of the Douzaine, Mary McDermott, and seconded by Douzenier Thomas Moore. 

Ms Tasker is bidding for a third spell as Constable. She is currently a Douzenier in St. Peter Port. She was a Deputy for the parish between 2005 and 2012. 

She is proposed for the office of Constable by the founder of Specsavers, Dame Mary Perkins, and seconded by Lilita Kruze, the Honorary Consul of Latvia in Guernsey.

Ms Mitchell and Ms Tasker stood unsuccessfully in the first island wide general election of deputies in 2020. Ms Mitchell secured 3,477 votes and Ms Tasker won 3,162 votes.

There will also be a contested election on Wednesday for seven douzeniers in St. Peter Port. There are eight candidates: Mary McDermott, Thomas Moore, Arron Hawke, Christopher Hudson, Philip Smith, Christopher Nicolle, Michael Garrett and Denyse McGahy.

Pictured: There is a contested election for a vacancy as a Vale representative on the La Mare de Carteret High School Committee.

At the Vale parish election on the same night, former Deputy Mary Lowe faces a contest against Deirdre Dudley-Owen to hold onto her seat on the La Mare de Carteret High School Committee. 

In St. Peter Port, there will be a contested election for one seat on the Amherst and Vauvert Schools' Committee. There are two candidates: Karen Marshall and Jonathan Sebire.

St. Saviour has found it challenging to recruit candidates for parochial offices. It has three candidates for four seats on the Douzaine and no candidates for a vacant seat on the La Mare de Carteret High School Committee.