One of the biggest bones of contention about island-wide voting is the challenge of connecting candidates and voters.
The States’ bid to assist in that regard started at the weekend with two full days to ‘Meet the Candidates’ in the Sir John Loveridge Hall at Beau Sejour.
Those who attended said it was of some value to them, but there was also some scepticism about a relatively low turnout of voters.
At lunchtime voters were outnumbered by candidates, but with candidates showing a similar appetite to sticking in their seats as they do in the States Chamber, it was sometimes hard to assess.
‘I don’t think you can tell what someone is like off a bit of paper. You wouldn’t hire someone for a job just based off their CV without doing an interview first,’ said Helena Avery, who went to meet the candidates on Saturday afternoon with Laura Middleton.
‘Housing is a big issue, and we both work in health and social care, so that is important to us, and then there’s education too.’
Voters we spoke to said they thought the event was a good way to meet all the candidates.
‘We’ve not got parish elections any more, so doing it like this, you can meet more,’ said builder Brian Holden.
Candidates said that they enjoyed having the chance to speak to voters and hear their views on key issues.
‘It’s good for people to be able to ask questions face-to-face and have that back-and- forth conversation,’ said first-time candidate David Goy.
‘I have had a lot of people coming to me about GST. There is a lot of confusion between GST and GST-plus, so it is good to be able to clarify what it means for them and bust some myths.’
He said that he had a range of people coming to speak to him at the event.
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‘I think I have a lot of younger fans, and then there are a lot of older people who like what I champion,’ he said.
Forward Guernsey candidate Rhona Humphreys was there with other party members.
‘It’s really good having a nice open forum,’ she said.
‘We have had quite a lot of key conversations, a lot about education and GST. There is a mix of people who want it and people who don’t, but they are more interested in what effect it would have on them.’
Former deputy Garry Collins – who also stood in the last island-wide election – was full of praise for the event.
‘It’s certainly a good idea. To get around to more than 27,000 voters is not possible, so this gives them the chance to come to you with the candidates all in one place,’ he said.
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