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De Sausmarez tops poll as committee presidents fall

Four presidents of major committees met their electoral demise yesterday while one of only two who survived the cull shocked even herself by topping the poll.

Lindsay de Sausmarez topped the poll with 10,721 votes.
Lindsay de Sausmarez topped the poll with 10,721 votes. / Guernsey Press/Peter Frankland

Lindsay de Sausmarez was nervous about keeping her seat, but proved to be the only candidate to earn more than 10,000 votes from a much-reduced turnout of electors.

The Environment & Infrastructure president saw the presidents of Education, Sport & Culture, Home Affairs, the Development & Planning Authority and the States Assembly & Constitution Committee all fall, along with the former president of Policy & Resources, Peter Ferbrache, who was edged into 39th position, and though he was entitled to call for a recount, has declined to do so.

They were among 12 deputies to lose their seats.

Hear reaction to Thursday’s results on our Election Weekly podcast

An Education president has not been re-elected for more than 20 years.

‘If you look at the track record of leaders on education, they have a habit of not being returned, and that is in large part because Guernsey doesn’t like change,’ said ESC president Andrea Dudley-Owen.

‘I stepped up to lead, and I just really hope that the new committee have the courage to see the education programme through.’

The election trends, which included ‘fair tax’ campaigner Charles Parkinson finishing third, may well see a rapid reassessment of a goods and services tax and other tax options, though a bid to completely take GST off the table will probably resisted.

The only newcomer in the top 10 was teacher Paul Montague, one of 17 new deputies, with three more returning to the States after periods out of politics.

‘After 30 years in education in the island I have known enough people and supported enough people who obviously thought I can do the job,’ he said.

Deputy de Sausmarez said she hoped that collaboration and consensus would prove important in the new States.

‘That was something that wasn’t in as much evidence as we might have liked last term, but it did happen,’ she said.

‘I was also really pleased that came out as a strong theme during the campaign with so many of the candidates, and it was something that I think the community was calling for as well.’

Fellow successful candidate Andy Cameron agreed.

‘The public has called out the negative behaviour that’s been happening in the Assembly. That’s almost definitely the reflection of what I see here,’ he said.

Turnout was 72%, but the number of voters dropped below 20,000 for the first time since 2008.

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