AT meetings throughout the Island tonight, the men and women seeking to make up the bulk of the next States Assembly will be nominated and the next round of the 2008 elections will be under way in earnest.

It is a good time to remind ourselves once again that the triennial voting for 29 Deputies is no longer either an end in itself or the end of the story. In terms of what direction Jersey will take in an increasingly uncertain future and the impact on everyday lives which the decisions of the States will have, the selection of a new Chief Minister and Council of Ministers in early December is the true crux of the current proceedings.

The next Chief Minister will not come from among the ranks of the Deputies but it is nevertheless they who will exercise the decisive influence on who will succeed Senator Frank Walker. Voters should have that new reality very firmly in mind as they question candidates in their districts and make their own choices on 26 November.

Anyone putting themselves forward as a serious candidate for the new-style States should by this stage have a clear idea of who he or she wishes to see in the top job. At the most basic level, they should have formed a view on whether they will back the current front-runner, Treasury Minister Terry Le Sueur, or seek a more complete break with the current executive, of which he has been a key member.

Although a pre-poll JEP survey indicated a fair degree of general satisfaction with the overall performance of the States, in policy terms the recent Senatorial results nevertheless saw a marked swing away from the priorities of the Walker years, with their emphasis on growth, development and business. With Senator Walker and several of his main supporters either leaving the House, voluntarily or otherwise, or left reflecting on a much diminished share of the Islandwide vote, it is likely that the next Council of Ministers will be a more diverse, tolerant and inclusive one with a more sympathetic sense of community and a wider view of how to tackle the difficult issues that we will undoubtedly face in the next three years.

If Senator Le Sueur is chosen by his fellow States Members on 8 December, he is likely to prove far more his own man than his detractors sometimes try to suggest. But whoever leads the new Council of Ministers will need the ability to harmonise divergent views and harness talents from across the spectrum as he or she seeks to unify both the States and, by extension, the whole of a currently divided Island. As they weigh up the candidates nominated tomorrow, Islanders should start asking themselves which are likeliest to play a constructive, intelligent and mutually respectful part in supporting that process of political and social renewal.