2008 Jersey General Election

Constables

For the first time since 1948 the elections of constables for the twelve parishes of Jersey have been synchronised so that polling, where necessary, will take place on the same day as the senatorial election on 15 October 2008, in accordance with the Connétables (Jersey) Law 2008 (registered 28 March 2008).

At Assemblies of Electors held in nine parishes on 17 September 2008, constables in five parishes were returned unopposed: St Brelade, St Martin, St Ouen, Trinity and St Saviour. The constables of the other parishes declined to stand down to recontest their seats, preferring to serve out their full term so that the provisions of the law will apply to the next mandate from 2011.

Senators

 

The senatorial election took place on 15 October 2008. The election was island-wide and there were six seats available. At the Assembly of Electors held in Saint Helier on 16 September 2008, 21 candidates were nominated.

Three sitting senators did not seek re-election:

• Wendy Kinnard
• Frank Walker
• Leonard Norman (confirmed June 2008 his intention to stand for Constable of St. Clement)

The following candidates were sitting senators seeking re-election:

• Philip Ozouf
• Paul Routier
• Mike Vibert

The following candidates were sitting deputies seeking who ran in the senatorial election:

• Alan Breckon
• Sarah Ferguson
• Alan Maclean
• Peter Troy
• Geoff Southern

Candidates declared the following political affiliations:

• Deputy Geoff Southern and Trevor Pitman were candidates of the Jersey Democratic Alliance
• Nick Le Cornu and Montfort Tadier were members of Time4Change/Reform
• Daniel Wimberley, Mark Forskitt, and Nick Palmer are members of Jersey 2020

Deputies

The election for deputies took place on 26 November 2008. Twelve new deputies were elected, five sitting deputies lost their seats and four were reelected without opposition.

A referendum on the question "Do you think that Jersey should adopt Central European Time?" was put to voters on 15 October.

Referendum results

Choice	Votes	%
No	17,230	72.42
Yes	6,564	27.58
Invalid or blank votes	544	0.47
Total votes	23,907	100.00
Registered voters/turnout	55,142	44.14
Source: Direct Democracy

The 2008 general election is the first in which 16- and 17-year-old voters will take part, following a law to reduce voting age to 16. The law was brought into force on 12 March 2008 and became effective on 1 April 2008.