THE first hustings meeting of the Senatorial election campaign is being held tonight in St Clement.

There will be 21 candidates on the platform and St Clement Constable Derek Gray will face the daunting tasks of keeping speeches to the allotted length and deciding which members of the audience should be singled out to ask questions.

The prospect of listening to 21 speakers and then having only a slender chance of putting them on the spot through asking a question will no doubt discourage significant numbers of people from attending the hustings – as will the limited range of questions that will be addressed. There are, however, still compelling reasons for turning up.

Although it must be conceded that the sheer number of hopefuls seeking Senatorial office will make meetings unwieldy and lengthy, there is no substitute for seeing and hearing candidates in the flesh. Manifestoes, lucid and eloquent though they might be in some cases, are a very poor alternative when it comes to forming impressions about personal qualities ranging from general coherence to that indefinable attribute that is usually labelled charisma.

It is, of course, true that the Island’s media will be covering every twist and turn of the elections, but, vital as press and broadcasting reports undoubtedly are, the opportunity to witness those who would be our leaders at first hand remains of utmost value.

In spite of this, it would be wrong to assert that the hustings, as currently organised, are an ideal vehicle for candidates to present themselves to the electorate or for the electorate to familiarise themselves with candidates’ personalities and policies. The traditional parish hall roadshow might have served the Island well when the general rule was fewer Senatorial candidates, but we are fast approaching the point where this arrangement will be hopelessly inadequate.

There is no possibility of changing time-honoured procedures at this point, but serious thought should now go into devising more satisfactory mechanisms to encourage and allow a higher proportion of voters to see what might be called live performances by those seeking election to high political office.