A FORMER Senator will seek to make a political comeback at this summer’s election.
Ted Vibert has joined the Jersey Alliance party and will stand for one of the four Deputy seats in St Helier North in the general election on 22 June.
Having served as a Deputy from 2000 to 2002 and as a Senator from 2003 until 2005, Mr Vibert said that his experience of Island politics had persuaded him that being in a party was the key to getting things done.
He said: ‘As an independent you are in there on your own and it’s very hard to achieve anything.
‘The attraction of a political party is being part of a team where policies can be decided on, then put to the electorate at an election and if enough candidates from the party are elected, those policies can be enacted – this is how all modern democracies work, so we are not inventing the wheel.’
Mr Vibert said he had chosen to join the Jersey Alliance because he agreed with most of the policy ideas issued by the party in recent months, and was ‘positive’ that its leader Sir Mark Boleat was the person to lead the Island through a difficult period.
Key Island issues cited by Mr Vibert included recovering from the Covid pandemic, revitalising the tourism industry, the high cost of housing and the rising cost of living. Addressing issues in the health service, particularly the need for a new hospital, was also a priority, he added.
After beginning his career as a reporter with the JEP, Mr Vibert worked in publishing, advertising and public relations, including a 28-year stint in Australia starting in 1972.
He is the first confirmed candidate for St Helier North, one of nine districts established as a result of recent electoral reforms.
