Select a region
By late tonight 49 applicants will have secured a four-year job deal worth over £46,000 a year, which will involve turning up to ‘the office’ twice a month and a great deal of work from home.
For many, it will also include foreign travel, meals and preferential parking.
But it will also mean working unsocial hours – including weekends and bank holidays – no pension, and possibly being sacked in 2022.
The ‘applicants’ have already sent us their ‘CVs’ and ‘business plans’ packaged in the form of manifestos and flyers, and have undergone a series of ‘interviews’ - online, in print, on TV and radio, at the hustings, and for some on the doorsteps.
Yes, it’s election day! It’s now up to us – the electorate – to decide who gets the jobs. Polls open at 08:00 and close at 20:00.
14 people have already secured their posts, without a single vote being cast: 11 Constables, and three Deputies. But 35 other posts are up for grabs: one as Constable in St Mary, eight as Senator, and 26 as Deputy.
Pictured: The candidates running for Senator.
While all islanders have a say in who is elected as Senator, you can only vote for Constable or Deputy if there’s an election in the parish - or in the cases of St. Helier, St. Saviour and St. Brelade, the district in which you live.
Because some States members have chosen not to seek re-election, including a number of high-profile former members of the Council of Ministers, we know the new chamber is going to look very different. There are going to be at least 17 ‘new’ faces, people who weren’t in the last States, although some of them could be ‘returnees’ – people returning after a break in service.
We already know the names of five of those ‘new’ faces: Constable Richard Buchanan in St Ouen; Constable Mike Jackson in St Brelade; Constable Karen Stone in St. Martin; Constable Richard Vibert in St Peter; and Deputy John Young in St Brelade No1. But, there has to be at least 12 more ‘new’ faces, possibly more.
St. Helier districts 2, and 3/4 (a joint district), and St. Lawrence will all be returning at least two new faces. St. Saviour No 1, St. Saviour No 3, St. John, Trinity, St. Clement, and St. Peter will be returning at least one new face each.
Pictured: With so many sitting politicians stepping down, the new States Assembly is going to look very different, with a minimum of at least 17 new faces.
Seventeen candidates are going for the eight island-wide jobs of Senator. Because there are nine sitting States members looking to be ‘upgraded’, we know at least one is going to be disappointed. But it could be two or even more will soon be finding themselves unemployed.
Express will be publishing an exit poll as soon as voting closes just after 20:00 this evening, and will be bringing you election results and analysis as events unfold.
Click the parish names below to meet the candidates you can vote for via video...
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.