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The States will drip feed information out over the coming year to raise awareness of the role of a Deputy and the workings of our government to prospective election candidates.
The States Assembly & Constitution Committee (SACC) met yesterday to discuss the rollout of election communications. It’s hoped that it will help individual’s make informed decisions about standing for election by providing relevant information early.
A new section of the States’ website will be launched at the end of this year to support this.
A senior States communications official said it would allow a “longer run” of information prior to the election and would feature the structures of government, different jobs, expectations of politicians, and the “live issues” that the next Assembly will need to deal with once in office.
Another suggestion was to host open workshops and seminars in early 2024 with the opportunity to hear from and question senior civil servants from different departments.
But sitting deputies on SACC thought it would be better to feature political experience too, and an internal political brainstorm will be held to consider how this could work to remove conflicts of interest.
The measures were unanimously agreed by the Committee, which has committed to rolling out additional public materials prior to the 2025 election.
Pictured: The next general election will be proposed for June 2025.
It was suggested that former deputies who do not intend on standing in 2025 could feature, but SACC President, Deputy Carl Meerveld argued that the political environment today is markedly different to previous Assemblies.
He also feared that there could be “low attendance” if the conversations featured a presentation on “fiscal structures” delivered by treasury officials. Round table discussions involving the Presidents of major committees may work better, he said.
What deputies can do and can’t do would be helpful, as well as highlighting the behaviour and standards any politician will be held to Guernsey, Deputy Meerveld added.
However, Deputy John Gollop said most are usually “less concerned with procedural matters” during campaigns as they only need “good manifestos and good posters” to win public support.
Deputy Simon Fairclough expressed concerns about being “totally objective” about being a politician due to the negative aspects of the role. This was echoed by SACC Vice-President Deputy Lester Queripel who claimed “being a deputy can ruin your life”.
The Committee for Home Affairs could be brought into internal discussions on how to run the workshops since it has responsibility for physically delivering public elections.
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