On Monday 5 December the States will meet to elect the top politician in Jersey鈥檚 new ministerial government. The two candidates for the first ever Chief Minister are Senators Stuart Syvret and Frank Walker. The Chief Minister will preside over a Council of Ministers responsible for government policy in Jersey. Both candidates will set out their vision for the role before being elected in a secret ballot.
The two Senators have already put forward documents setting out their views on the strategic policy and role of the Chief Minister. 大象传媒 Radio Jersey hosted a special debate at St. James Centre on Friday 2 December. Islanders had a chance to hear what the two candidates had to offer, and what they believe in. Senator Stuart Syvret says he wants a future with a more efficient and cost effective government. Senator Frank Walker stresses the need to keep the islands international reputation, and protect the finance industry. Before the public meeting at St. James Centre, Spotlight Channel Islands caught up with the two candidates to ask them what they see as the main issues that they will face as Chief Minister.
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As well as the candidates telling us their manifestos, people in the audience had the opportunity to quiz them. The people of Jersey asked the two candidates for Chief Minister their views on issues ranging from international relations to the future of the island. One of the most disputed issues has been how the Chief Minister will be chosen. This week the States decided it would be a secret ballot. Steven Edwards in the St. James audience wanted to know what the candidates though of that. Senator Walker answered first: 鈥淚 found that debate first of all, very surprising and also I have to say very very interesting. 鈥淚 went into the debate A believing that open ballots, especially for Chief Minister was the right way forward and B believing that it was going to be an automatic approval. 鈥淲hat surprised me, and it did surprise me was not only the level of opposition to it but the quality of the arguments presented against it, I found those arguments persuasive. 鈥淭he arguments were based on long standing democratic principles not just in Jersey but in most other democracies as well. 鈥淏oth Stuart and I said we would not bring pressure to bear on anyone who voted against us - and we wouldn't. 鈥淏ut there is that fear that if they vote for the looser then the winner might not want to accommodate them as an assistant minister or a minister. I don't think that's justified but that fear existed. 鈥淚 found myself in the position as a candidate I couldn't vote against an open ballot that would have been absolutely wrong. 鈥淲hat I did was the first time ever in my political life, and hopefully the last as I don't normally agree with it, I abstained. 鈥淚 abstained because A I couldn't vote against and B because I found the arguments against an open ballot more persuasive than those in favour. Then Senator Syvret gave his view: 鈥淚 thought the arguments that were mounted as Senator Walker said, quite vigorously by a lot of members against an open ballot were profoundly and terribly misguided. 鈥淢embers made reference to the importance of secret ballots in the terms of public elections were ordinary people go to a polling station and cast their vote, and the importance of secret ballots when it comes to union members voting for industrial action or not as the case may be. 鈥淎bsolutely because in those circumstances there is the risk of intimidation, but in those circumstances public elections, ordinary democracy, you are dealing with a private individual, a private person going into the ballot box and voting as a private individual. 鈥淪tates members aren't really private individuals in that sense, States members are public representatives and to a large extent we give up our privacy as it were by becoming your elected representatives. 鈥淚 think once you become a States member the public have a right to know how you vote and I think it is quite important who you elect as a Chief Minister or Ministers in the States assembly. 鈥淚t matters and it matters to a lot of people of the island and the people of the island really wanted to know how their States members were voting in this matter. 鈥淚 couldn't see any validity in the arguments that were mounted against an open ballot. It seemed to me very misguided. 鈥淭he thing that I wanted to do was to have it transparent and open, and I thought it was important that it should be so, so that there is a public accountability on the part of members of the States for how they've chosen to vote.鈥 You can hear the debate in full by clicking on the link below.
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Vote Before the elections we ran a poll asking users of the site who they would vote for if they were given the opportunity. The poll ran for two days. The poll shouldn't be taken as representative of public opinion as a whole but as a just for fun look at what users of bbc.co.uk/jersey thought at the time of publication. We had 306 votes cast in total between Wednesday 26 October and Friday 28 October.
The results are below: Senator Stuart Syvret got 45% with 139 votes
Senator Frank Walker got 55% with 167 votes 大象传媒 Radio Jersey and bbc.co.uk/jersey will also be bringing you full live coverage of the Speeches in the house and the election result on Monday. You will also be able to watch parts of the speeches on Spotlight Channel Islands on 大象传媒 ONE from 6.30pm on Monday and then again here on bbc.co.uk/jersey whenever you like.
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