Within seconds of walking in for the interview, Senator-elect Sam Mézec is congratulated by a supporter for his success at the polls.
It is perhaps easy to forget among the post-election analysis of a poor night for Reform Jersey that the former St Helier Deputy did gain one of the eight Senatorial seats.
Yes, it was tight, but Senator-elect Mézec will take his seat in the next Assembly on the Senatorial benches alongside the Members who will probably take the most senior roles in the Council of Ministers.
The fact is though that the 27-year-old is one of the most polarising figures in the States today and that welcome he received may not have been quite as warm in some of the rural parishes.
Election night was a long one for Senator-elect Mézec. For much of the night he was down and out – only entering the top eight for the first time after the last vote.
‘The main purpose of me standing as a Senator was to show the party can move forward and that we had support outside of the small constituencies,’ he said.
‘Most of that support is in St Helier but I did get votes in every parish. It was about branching out into the outer parishes and giving those people the opportunity to vote for us.
‘I got 11,000 votes – that is a mandate. It is certainly the greatest mandate the centre-left has had for anything.’
As the only Senator in their 20s, Sam Mézec is not your average politician.
A guitarist in rock bank FlashMob, the long hair that almost came to define him during his first years in politics may have gone but there remains a certain punk-rock anarchy that drives him.
‘I still have ambitions to change the world. My philosophy has not changed one bit. I still have a radicalism burning inside me against a system that doesn’t work.
‘What is different is I have learnt the tricks a bit better. I’m more capable of finding a pragmatic solution to problems.
‘I have got better at learning when to pick my battles and how to get things done.’
Despite now having served more than four years in the States, his age remains a stick his detractors beat him with. No work or life experience and the immaturity of youth are arguments regularly thrown at him.
‘I think the States needs to look like
the public it represents to do a good job.
It is right that young people are represented.
‘I think I have punched above my weight despite the fact I’m young and have never run a business or anything like that.
‘I don’t like the idea that the States should be 49 people in grey suits.’
Senator-elect Mézec readily admits that he had all but given up on election night as result after result rolled in and the gap between him and the top eight widened each time. A colossal vote in St Helier ultimately meant he nabbed the last spot from Moz Scott by just 123 votes.
‘It was very difficult in that my expectations had been high.
‘I looked at the results coming in – I believed St Helier would boost me up but probably not enough.
‘I had to be ready for the fact that it looked like I was going to lose.’
By this stage, he had left the Reform Jersey headquarters. What was meant to be a celebration had turned into a wake as commentators began delivering the last rites to his political career and the party he had formed four years earlier.
He has been criticised for failing to see the night through at the Reform Jersey HQ, opting to go home rather than face whatever cards the electorate may have dealt him.
‘If the party wanted me to stay I would have,’ he said. ‘I had their full support.
‘For that moment I wanted to be with my family and I didn’t want the media cameras pointed at me.
‘The party all said “fine”. The criticism has come from right-wingers with an agenda.’
From looking like missing out on a seat, Senator-elect Mézec may yet find himself with a place at the top table as prospective Chief Ministers look to curry favour with the party chairman whose members now represent ten per cent of the new House.
It was a scenario that seemed unlikely until the St Helier vote shortly after 3 am last Wednesday, with Mr Mézec beginning to start planning for a life after politics.
And while he does not view himself as a career politician – ‘at some point I will need a break’ – he feared his time in office was coming to a premature end.
‘In that period I was worrying about what I was going to do with the band.
‘We’re releasing an EP and if I were suddenly looking for other work it would probably be outside the Island. I still have strong connections in London.
‘The question was how quickly I could get the wheels in motion for plan B.
‘I have no interest in money. I was training to be a lawyer before going into politics – I could have been making big money but that is not what I’m interested in. I’m interested in making a difference.’
Perhaps nothing highlights the differences between the rural and urban parishes quite like Mr Mézec’s votes. In St Helier he topped the poll while elsewhere he was well out of the running, finishing outside the top eight in nine of the 12 parishes.
‘With Jersey in a pivotal moment with Brexit it is not healthy for us to be a divided Island,’ the Senator-elect said. ‘Work has got to be done to bridge that gap.
‘Parish rates should have been paid decades ago and it has taken us until 2018. We don’t have a town council despite town businesses and residents calling for one for years.
‘Part of it is the States is skewed towards representing the countryside. St Helier has one representative for every 3,000 people. St Mary has one representative for every 800.’
Electoral reform is a matter that has been on the States agenda for decades. Several independent reports have called for changes in the composition of the States.
And yet, nothing of note has changed for decades.
A team of election observers reviewed the election last week and, in a preliminary report, criticised the role of the Constables and the district boundary lines that create an uneven representation in the Chamber.
‘The findings of the observers should have weight because even their interim report has shown that our electoral system is undemocratic and unfair.
‘Politicians are too self-interested and a lot of them, when it comes to reform, are frankly too stupid.
‘Members do not think it is a problem that 13 Members were elected uncontested. There are some who can’t string a coherent argument together on why we have both Deputies and Senators.
‘They are scared that if we had a referendum where the public are asked do you want one type of States Member in equal-sized constituencies then it will be a landslide. More representation for St Helier would mean more centre-left candidates.’
He accused Senator Lyndon Farnham of lodging a ‘wrecking amendment’ to last year’s debate on reform and said Chief Minister Ian Gorst had ‘failed to show particularly good leadership’ on the issue.
Bearing in mind that Senator Gorst could be re-elected as Chief Minister, does Senator-elect Mézec really believe he can work as part of a ministerial team with such different political views.
‘The public expect us to work together – even if we disagree on nine out of ten issues, we should be prepared to work together on that issue that we agree on.
‘As a block of five, we are worth talking to. If a minister thinks something is on the line we are prepared to be constructive around that and speak to them.’
The next four years are going to be critical for Jersey’s future with Brexit looming, a new hospital to be built and an overhaul of the civil service all set to be major topics in the coming months.
So what will Senator-elect Mézec and his Reform Jersey colleagues be fighting for in the short term?
‘There should be some quick wins on housing. I found during the campaign that other candidates were drawing closer and closer to our position.
‘Halfway through the campaign Ian Gorst said he wanted to look at rent on Andium Homes.
‘That is on public record and when affordable housing is discussed we can say, “Come on, you said this, show you meant it”.’
And Mr Mézec is firmly of the belief that sooner or later, Reform Jersey will not be the only party in the Island and that something close to unofficial parties already exists.
‘What annoys me is people have an agenda – there is essentially a Jersey conservative party. It is more co-ordinated than they let on,’ he said.
As for his own party, they have gained two new Members – Deputies-elect Rob Ward and Carina Alves. ‘Our secret weapons’ as Senator-elect Mézec calls them.
‘People are going to be really impressed by them. They have so much energy and so much enthusiasm and are both incredibly capable.
‘The Island is going to look at their contribution in four years and say, “Yes please, let’s have some more of that”.
‘They are going to be more effective than the new States Members because they are part of a team.’
On election night, Mr Mézec told Channel 103 that he wanted an absolute minimum of eight candidates elected. In the end, just five made the cut.
The party chairman admits that he would have liked more of their 18 candidates to be successful but said each of them brought something to the campaign and that had they not been knocking on doors asking Islanders to vote Reform Jersey, he may not have been successful in the Senatorial race.
He added that work for the next election to raise the profiles of their candidates would be undertaken in the next four years in a bid to see further Reform Jersey party members enter the States.
It may have been a close-run thing on election night, but Reform Jersey and Sam Mézec are still fighting.
