AS the Senatorial hustings roadshow approaches the halfway point, it is possible to detect some main themes emerging and to anticipate that, while revolution is clearly not on the cards this time round, a significant phase in the evolution of Jersey politics is nevertheless well under way.

If the majority of candidates appear to agree on anything, it is that the current government system has run its course and must change. They may come at the conclusion from different directions – some arguing that power elites have corrupted the process, others that backbench mischief-making by underemployed Members outside the ministerial circle has seriously damaged the effectiveness and credibility of the States – but no one involved in the Island’s political life, from the outgoing Chief Minister downwards, is any longer pretending that the current quality of representation is acceptable.

The high level of public interest in these elections, demonstrated by the turnout at the hustings, may reasonably be construed as further evidence of dissatisfaction. An unusually large proportion of questions from the floor so far could be summarised as a series of variations on the general theme of why, when the opportunities conferred by history and geography should make them so good, are the States, by and large, so bad?

No one is expecting instant miracles, but it would be unthinkable for the next States Assembly not to treat reform of the discredited ministerial government system as a key priority for the next three years. Both inside and outside the House, there is now a kind of weary, fin de siècle expectation that, after years of circular argument and unenlightened self-interest, the new session will finally see a concerted effort to clear the decks in time for Jersey’s first truly general election in 2014.

Like the government system, the current electoral process itself has many shortcomings. One is its staggered terms of office, which mean that over half the members of the next Senatorial bench will not have been required to face the electorate this year. Another is that the people must cast their votes with no way of knowing that promises which have influenced their decisions will ever have the remotest chance of being turned into government policy.

That is why, despite some fair but incidental arguments to the contrary, voters have a perfect right to demand to know the candidates’ preferences for the next Chief Minister. To his credit, Senatorial candidate Ian Gorst has revealed that, if returned to the States, he will be in the running for the top job, probably in competition with two sitting Senators, Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand and, notwithstanding his unconvincing coyness on the subject, Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf.

Any candidate in the 19 October elections who has yet to form a view on the respective qualities and philosophies of those three gentlemen should quickly catch up on their homework. Whether they like it or not (and Senator Ozouf clearly doesn’t), the nature of their ambitions for Jersey is very much an election issue.