A TEENAGER is set to combine electioneering with A-Level revision as part of his ambition to become the youngest-ever Member of the States Assembly.
Gabriel Raimondo, a pupil at Victoria College, has confirmed his intention to stand in the election scheduled for 7 June.
The would-be politician, who will attain the minimum qualifying age for candidates when he reaches his 18th birthday ten days ahead of polling day, said he wanted to give young people a voice in the Island political arena.
“It’s new territory – I don’t believe anyone my age has ever done this,” he said. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about for the last couple of years, and as the election has got closer I’ve realised how important it is.
“Lots of young people leave the Island after finishing school and feel they don’t have anything to come back to, so my ambition is to represent them.”
Mr Raimondo said he would shortly be deciding whether he would contest the role of Deputy in his home district of St Brelade, or would seek to stand for the Islandwide role of Senator.
Although he was among the speakers at last year’s launch event for new political movement Value Jersey, Mr Raimondo said he would run as an independent candidate.
Ahead of publishing his manifesto, the sixth former said his main goal was to encourage measures which would combat the cost-of-living pressures affecting many Islanders, and to remove some of the current barriers discouraging entrepreneurship and small businesses.
Education was a particular area he would be looking to focus on if elected, he added.
Mr Raimondo admitted that the election falling at the same time as the culmination of his A-Levels was not ideal, but that he was confident he could combine studying and campaigning.
Should he be elected, the teenager would be three years younger than Jeremy Maçon, who was elected as Deputy for St Saviour District 1 in 2008 at the age of 21.
John Averty was elected as a Deputy on the day of his 23rd birthday in 1969, while current Housing Minister Sam Mézec was also aged 23 when he was elected to the Assembly for the first time in 2014.
