OVER the next few weeks until polling day on 16 May, it is going to be harder than ever to sort the policy wheat from the political chaff.
Voters will have to make sense of the pledges of countless election hopefuls, all promising the earth without a hope of actually achieving anything on their own.
To add to the confusion, candidates will be given just three or four minutes at the hustings to answer questions on everything from the economy to dog mess. Many will simply repeat the best answer given before it is their turn to speak.
Hustings as we know them might be colourful occasions organised according to time-honoured tradition, but they offer little help in understanding much about the candidates or their political thinking.
This is just one shortcoming of a system which is failing to deliver on a number of fronts, with consequences including low election turnouts, apathy and frustration.
At the heart of the problem are issues of clarity, of an imbalance of power, and accountability, points made regularly in the editorial leader column of this newspaper. They are also often raised on the letters pages by readers who express frustration that is echoed in conversations in meetings places Islandwide.
At election time, the lack of clarity is brought into sharp focus. Bland, vague and non-contentious statements of intent (‘I will work to provide better education and better healthcare…’) uttered on doorsteps and in campaigning literature fail to provide a framework to assess the vision of candidates and their policies.
And no matter how well intentioned or in touch with the public mood, these individuals – independents – are unable to implement their manifesto pledges because they are just one voice among many.
Under the current system, even if electors were able to vote for every member of the Council of Ministers they would have little idea of what policies ministers would pursue because there is no single electoral mandate.
The problems which start before an election roll on into the next four years. Seeking to hold Members to account based upon the delivery of their election promises is an exercise in futility. Most voters would be hard pressed to remember what the candidates pledged. That is hardly the basis for the sort of effective government which Jersey so badly needs.
And then there is the issue of balance of power – ensuring that there are effective checks and balances which should lie at the heart of parliamentary democracy.
The ministerial system has created a de facto political party – a powerful party which denies its own existence. With a weak Scrutiny system and a host of assistant ministers in tow, ministers wield very significant authority in the face of an ‘opposition’ of disparate backbenchers.
Change is needed to restore the trust and respect which has been lost. Government needs to be more accountable and, for the sake of States Members and voters, there ought to be a better way of assessing political performance, of judging actions against what States Members were elected to achieve.
No political system is perfect, but Jersey needs to find a better model which will address some of these structural issues.
Anecdotally at least, it seems that a growing number of Islanders are starting to seriously consider whether party politics, imperfect as it is, might offer the best antidote, a cure for some of the ills of Jersey politics today.
Parties publish their policies in manifestos, which they are expected to deliver and against which their performance can be assessed.
They enable people to hitch their wagon to a coherent vision for the sort of Island they want to create and bring people together in pursuit of that dream.
Today, the JEP launches a political experiment which aims to do a number of things in the run-up to 16 May. We have asked five people of different political persuasions to pen manifestos for fictitious parties.
The manifestos will give readers an idea of what an election might look like if Jersey had a party system. They offer joined-up and coherent plans for people to think about as they consider what sort of Island they want their politicians to strive for. You can view the manifestos here: jerseyeveningpost.com/news/election.
And in a world of online noise, short attention spans and social-media soundbites, they offer something more comprehensive, thoughtful and reflective – something better than the tweet and the chaff.
They provide thoughts on policy areas crucial to our future and will help voters frame questions they can put to candidates.
And above all, they have been written to stimulate informed and positive political debate about issues which matter to all of us. They may very well also help candidates to formulate their own visions for Jersey.
Over the course of the next fortnight, we will be publishing extracts from the five manifestos every day. Each day, the parties will set out their visions in different policy areas, from tax and education to environment and population. In nomination-meeting week, these manifestos will be brought together in a special election supplement.
To make the experiment a bit more interesting we will be asking readers to vote for their favourite party. Please get involved in the debate, whether online at jerseyeveningpost.com or by writing a letter for publication.
Jersey needs a better political model and it needs more people to become positively engaged in creating the right future for our Island.
*You can view the manifestos here: jerseyeveningpost.com/news/election
