We’re happy to report that ALL of the 13 women who stood for Douzenier and Constable in the 2021 parish elections were successful.
Here’s the detail…
New candidates for Douzenier, Jo May (Castel), Sophie Roughsedge (St Saviour) and Anne Setters (Vale), were elected unopposed at the parish meetings on 3 November.
In the competitive ‘deferred’ elections on 17 November, new candidates for Douzenier, Charlotte Long, Evita Bormane and Diane Mitchell, were elected in St Peter Port alongside existing Douzenier (and Constable), Zoe Lihou.
Cynthia Cormack and Charlotte Le Tissier were elected in St Martin.
More diverse representation
Charlotte (Long) is the youngest ever parish candidate at 18 years old and Evita is the first person from Latvia to hold elected office in Guernsey.
St Martin currently only has one woman on its Douzaine but with the election of Cynthia and Charlotte (Le Tissier) it will no longer be the parish with the lowest female representation in the island.
Proportion of women increases
All of the existing female Douzeniers who were re-standing were successful too.
However, four female Douzeniers have stood down this year – Mary Collins (St Martin), Linda Norman (St Saviour), Danielle Sebire (St Peter Port) and Christine Goodlass (Dean of St Peter Port) so the net gain versus 2020 was four.
The percentage of female Douzeniers has increased from 20% in 2019 to 29% in 2020 to 33% in 2021.
Two new female Constables were elected – Leonie Le Tissier in St Sampson and Jane Niles in the Forest – and Tracy Bisson was re-elected in Torteval. That means a big jump in the percentage of women overseeing the administration of their parish, jumping from 20% to 30%.
School committee
All of the women standing for School Committee were elected with the exception of St Peter Port where three women were standing for two seats.
