Mary Lowe ends run of success after 26 years
THE ARCHITECTS of the two-school model were among the biggest casualties of election night, as Education president Matt Fallaize, along with Mark Dorey and Rhian Tooley, all lost their seats.
The island’s longest-serving politician, Mary Lowe, the president of Home Affairs was also ousted; as was Barry Brehaut, the president of Environment & Infrastructure; and Dawn Tindall, the president of the Development & Planning Authority.
Other sitting deputies who were purged by the electorate in the political earthquake were Jennifer Merrett, Sarah Hansmann-Rouxel, Jeremy Smithies, Shane Langlois and Jane Stephens.
Mary Lowe, who was first elected in 1994 and held the position of ‘Mother of the House’, was gracious in defeat.
‘I’m disappointed because obviously when you stand in an election you want to get elected, but every election that I’ve been in and I’ve had seven successful elections, you always have to be prepared that they might not want you any more and obviously we’ve reached that stage.
‘I’ve had over 26 years of serving the island and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. It’s been excellent and it’s been a huge privilege and honour to be in the States.
‘I hope the next States will be onwards and upwards, this last States has been the worst of my seven terms.’
Dawn Tindall, who was first elected in 2016, said she felt numb and disappointed with the result, and she was worried about the huge shift in power.
‘When you look at the make-up of the people who got elected, the Guernsey people have just said one big loud “let’s go back to what we had before” and I do fear for all the stuff that we’ve done during the last four and a half years. I can see there’s going to be a huge change back.
‘I feel very fearful for all those achievements.
‘That’s what the Guernsey people want and I wish everyone the best, but there are some very differing views in that mix and it’s going to be fireworks.’
Education members Matt Fallaize, Mark Dorey and Rhian Tooley were not present at the count but Deputy Neil Inder, who romped home in eighth position, said their defeats were significant.
‘There’s one clear message there – don’t close schools in Guernsey because the big falls have been in the Education department and that should be no surprise to anyone.’
Deputy John Gollop was delighted to clinch the seventh spot. He said the political landscape had been shaken up.
‘It was obvious there was a big swing towards a more centre-right approach, for instance Mark Helyar, Peter Ferbrache and Andrea Dudley-Owen all doing particularly well.
‘The huge turnout suggests that people who don’t normally vote decided to vote and those people wanted to vote for change.’
