JUST 22 teenagers turned up to grill the 21 Senatorial candidates at Hautlieu School yesterday.

Following a lowering of the voting age to 16 and a huge push by the States to get younger people interested in the elections, only a small group were interested enough to attend yesterday’s special hustings. But despite there being only one more student in the audience than there were candidates on the stage, a wide range of issues were raised.

Yesterday’s after-school hustings was the first ever to be held specifically for teenage voters, following a suggestion from candidate Daniel Wimberley. Each candidate shared the £250 cost of the event, which was open to all 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds.

Questions raised included what the candidates would do to restore faith in the States, whether they were proud of the status Jersey has been given as a tax haven, what they intended to do to make Jersey a more attractive place to young people and what they would do to enable more young people to return to the Island.

Mr Wimberley said that he had hoped more students would attend. ‘It was very disappointing, having put days of effort into making this happen that there was such a low turn-out,’ he said. ‘It really troubles me, actually.’

• Full hustings report at www.thisisjersey.com/election (headlines)