WITH this year’s important States elections only a matter of weeks away, voters should by now be making a three-fold resolution: To ensure that they are registered to vote; to use their votes; and to use them with care and discretion.

In these days of ministerial government, with huge powers over every aspect of Island life being shared among the few States Members who come out on top of the heap in the wake of the whole electoral process, it is no longer good enough for Jersey to choose its political representatives on the basis of vague promises and equally vague feelings about this or that candidate being a jolly good fellow.

The electorate now has greater responsibility than ever before to challenge and question those who offer themselves for political office. Votes should go only to those candidates who can demonstrate convincingly that they have clear sets of proposals and policies to which they can be held accountable if they are elected.

Candidates must also convince the electorate that they are likely to be of the right calibre to play a productive role in the demanding, increasingly pressured world of modern Jersey politics.

There is, unfortunately, no polite way of saying that too many of those who have made it into the States in recent years have not proved fully up to the demands of the job, a problem which can only be magnified by the nature of the challenges now facing Jersey and the pressures of ministerial government, with its associated Scrutiny responsibilities. In the new circumstances, there is no hiding place for the incompetent and no room for passengers.

Nor should the taxpayer be expected to fork out salaries of over £40,000 a head for low-calibre representation by would-be politicians for some of whom the pay cheque has been at least as great a motivator as the call to public service.

This time round, Jersey needs election candidates of a higher average quality from which to make informed, careful choices about where it places its votes. That can only happen if the men and women of proven ability and integrity who are currently considering the idea of putting themselves for election can convince themselves that they are needed and can, despite the counsels of despair which whisper to the contrary, make a significant difference in how the Island is run and how its shapes its future.

There is an undeniable public appetite for change in the relationship between the government and the governed in Jersey. It can only be met if high-quality candidates accept the equally undeniable burden of responsibility and help the electorate raise the bar back to where it belongs.