IT is now only a matter of weeks before the Island goes to the polls in what will qualify as a general election. As the Jersey Evening Post has pointed out, the full significance of the election can be understood only in relation to another political event of enormous importance – the contest for the post of Chief Minister.

To boil the argument down to its essentials, voters must be conscious that when they vote, their choice of candidate will have a bearing on who is ultimately likely to become the Island’s political leader. A key question at the hustings must therefore be: ‘Who will you support in the struggle for the top job?’

It is, meanwhile, clear that before any member of the electorate is able to
decide who might make the best Chief Minister and to decide how best to
maximise the chances of the best person being chosen by voting appropriately, it is necessary for chief ministerial candidates to declare their intentions.

Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand has just done this, and he is to be congratulated for setting the ball rolling. It is probable that Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf – heir-apparent of the present incumbent, Senator Terry Le Sueur – will follow suit in short order. Anyone else who aspires to the job must also make his or her intentions clear at the earliest possible moment.

When the nature of the race for the political leadership of the Island becomes fully transparent – a process which will entail candidates setting out their preferred policies and the foundations of their political beliefs as explicitly and honestly as possible – Islanders will be in a position to make intelligent decisions when, in the autumn, they enter the polling booth.

Encouragingly, there are already signs that new faces with potential are emerging to challenge for seats on the Deputies’ and depleted Senators’ benches. They, and sitting Members who hope to return to the Assembly, must, like the candidates for Chief Minister, be equally candid about what they stand for and what they aspire to achieve.

These remain difficult times and it is essential that after the coming elections, the Island’s best interests are pursued by people of ability, integrity and determination and with sound common sense who are slaves neither to inflexible ideology nor to selfish ambition.