Sark and Alderney to try to fill vacant government seats
SARK and Alderney will be returning to the polls in the new year, as both failed to find enough candidates to fill the vacant seats in the islands’ governments.
Alderney will be looking to have an election in February, subject to States’ approval, while Sark will try again in March.
This week was supposed to have seen Sark go to the polls for nine vacancies on Chief Pleas, but only five islanders put their names forward last month and so were elected unopposed.
As a result, sitting Conseillers Helen Plummer and John Guille will be joined by Jolie Booth, Christopher Kennedy-Barnard and Andrew Miller.
Speaker of Chief Pleas Reg Guille, who is also the island’s returning officer, said he was disappointed at the lack of nominations.
He had hoped that there would be sufficient candidates for an election and in October told the Guernsey Press that there were ‘encouraging signs’ that people would come forward.
‘We’re now planning to have a further election to fill the four vacant seats on 15 March,’ he said. ‘It’s very disappointing.’
In the weeks before nominations closed, leaflets were sent to homes in the island.
He hoped that those who had expressed an interest but not put their names forward would do so in March.
However, Mr Guille will not be the returning officer at that election, since his term of office as speaker ends in February and he does not plan to stand again.
Another election is also due in Alderney in February, subject to being approved at next week’s States meeting, after that island, too, failed to get more candidates than seats at its election last month.
In an effort to get people to stand, P&F chairman Ian Carter and senior officers held drop-in sessions at the Island Hall for would-be candidates, did interviews on the island’s QuayFM radio station and ran articles in the Alderney Journal.
‘It’s expected that further initiatives will be discussed by the new administration in due course,’ said a spokesman.
The island will go to the polls to look for one more person to join the States alongside re-elected sitting members Bill Abel and Steve Roberts and newcomers Nigel Vooght and Bruce Woodhead.
If the election date is approved, nominations will close on 3 February with polling day on 18 February.
