WITH only a few days to go before next week’s Senatorial poll, Islanders have had a range of opportunities to weigh up the 21 candidates’ strengths and weaknesses.

These opportunities have included hustings meetings, material published and broadcast by the media, yesterday’s official States supplement containing candidate profiles in their own words and, in the case of sitting States Members, prior knowledge.

But in spite of this welter of information, many Islanders will fill in their ballot papers with the sketchiest of notions about who stands for what, who inspires confidence and who genuinely has the interests of the Island at heart.
One of the difficulties in the present election is the sheer number of Senatorial hopefuls.

More than a score of contenders on hustings platforms has, of necessity, cut speeches to an absolute minimum length and has curtailed questions from the floor to an almost absurd extent. The chance to see and hear candidates in the flesh remains a vital part of the election, but the hustings alone are an imperfect guide to the calibre of those standing, not least because so few electors are able – or willing – to turn up to meetings.

However, those who have managed to go along to experience trial by electioneering might well have formed certain general opinions. For example, as always, the calibre of candidates is mixed, but this time the Island has been spared any time-wasting no-hopers. There will, of course, still be losers, and their ranks will still include people who, despite their best intentions, should not seriously aspire to high office, but all 21 have brought something to the proceedings, not least a wider than usual range of attributes and opinions and thus a wider choice for the voting public.

Although the sheer unwieldiness of this the proceedings must hasten the day when a general election shuts off the opportunity for aspirant Deputies to have a profile-raising dry run, it can at least be said that a good number of credible candidates for a constituency seat will emerge from the ranks of next Wednesday’s 15 losers.

This Senatorial election has also been notable for the enhanced significance of joint political plaforms and groupings. Although we remain far removed from party politics, solid affiliations, ranging from the green tendency to the Jersey Democratic Alliance and from Time4Change to establishment figures seeking re-election, are coming to the fore.

If this is the shape of things to come, we might even see an era in which much of the guesswork and some of the wishful thinking are taken out of the electoral process by all candidates aligning themselves with groups whose policies are not only clearly set out in manifestoes but also well understood by the mass of voters.