Geoffrey Lemee’s bid to unseat incumbent John Niles was deferred at this week’s parish meeting when at least seven voters stood to request a separate polling day.
Nearly all those requesting a deferral were sitting douzeniers, some of whom later defended themselves against claims that they had been part of a co-ordinated plan to boost Mr Niles’ chances of re-election, amid rumours of a strong turnout at the meeting by Mr Lemee’s supporters.
‘It was obviously an organised deferment – they stood up without any hesitation,’ said parishioner Ian Hunter.
‘I would suggest that is unfair on the rest of us. I think there should have been some sort of indication that the vote was never going to be taken tonight.
‘There were no arguments and discussions about it. I’m told they are all on the douzaine who stood up and that smacks of cloak and dagger.’
His speech was applauded by some of the parishioners present.
He said he had been at previous parish meetings where there had been full discussion about deferring an election which had then been supported by a more random group of parishioners.
‘I have never known it to be co-ordinated like this, and I find this very distasteful,’ he said.
Junior constable Richard Leale, chairing the meeting, acknowledged that deferring the election was frustrating to many of the dozens of parishioners who had turned up to vote. Some of them asked if the proposal to defer could be put to a vote and settled by a majority on the night, but he explained that was not possible under the law on parochial elections which the douzaine was powerless to amend.
Mr Leale had pressed for a change in the law following a similar deferral three years ago, but the States had not taken up the issue.
The vote for a senior constable will now be held on Wednesday 18 November.
Douzenier Victoria Robinson said she had reached her own decision that the election should be deferred in order to encourage higher voter turnout.
‘When I stood three years ago, there was a turnout of about 400 voters. That’s a significant number – more than are here tonight,’ she said.
‘It is much more democratic to give people a longer time to vote during a whole day.’
Douzenier Martine Ellis said she could not speak for any of her colleagues but insisted she was not part of a co-ordinated effort to defer the election in favour of any candidate.
‘I believe it is more democratic to defer,’ she said.
‘When there is a deferred election, we get a whole host of different people who turn up. I feel very strongly about trying to get other people engaged in the douzaine, and a deferred election gives us that.’
Former deputy Mary Lowe, who proposed Mr Lemee, was concerned that the full range of voting options had not been shared with the meeting before the deferral process was started.
‘It could be a show of hands tonight, a secret ballot tonight or a deferred election,’ she said. ‘Sadly, we didn’t have all those options given to us, but that is what is actually in the law.’
Mr Niles told the meeting that on previous occasions Mrs Lowe herself had been strongly in favour of deferring parochial elections.
Prior to the meeting, the parish website had published a 1,200-word manifesto from Mr Niles, but no manifesto from Mr Lemee, who said he had received an invitation just two days earlier to submit up to 300 words only, although parish officials said that an email had been sent to him earlier than that.
Meanwhile, five douzenier seats were uncontested at the meeting.
Wilson Le Page, Nigel Leale, Jane Le Cras, Alexander Rowe and Nina Gill were all elected unopposed.
The election of two seats on the parish’s Church Property Management Board had been incorrectly included in the original public notice convening the meeting and the item was therefore dropped from the agenda.
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