Latest news with #DrChristopherPich
BBC News
02-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Guernsey election manifestos labelled 'dull' by leading academic
A third of manifestos printed in the States of Guernsey's election booklet have been labelled "dull" and "not very engaging" by an expert in Channel Island Professor in Marketing at Nottingham University Business School, Dr Christopher Pich has looked through the 278 page booklet online. He separated the manifestos into three categories of corporate, traditional and "Goldilocks".Dr Pich said the Goldilocks candidates "have got it right with a mix between personality, vision, a few pledges and principles." The election booklet has been distributed by Guernsey Post to every household on the island. 'Six to ten hours' Speaking to the Your Voice, Your Vote podcast, Dr Pich said reading it would take "around six to ten hours" on the content of the manifestos he commented: "I've broken them down into three groups, the first is one that is quite corporate, not very exciting, not very engaging, quite dull I'm sorry to say."Then you have the traditional pre-island wide approach, focussing more on the values, the vision, the personality of candidates rather than any principles."The third group was labelled as Goldilocks. Former Guernsey Party advisor David Piesing said he was impressed there appeared to be very little use of AI in the manifestos. The importance of meeting candidates face-to-face was stressed by former president of Employment and Social Security, Michelle Le Clerc. 'Lacking content' Ms Le Clerc has also looked through all the manifestos and labelled some of them as "beige" and "lacking content and substance". "There's a lot of confirmation of what hasn't worked and what is going wrong with the island, but I don't see many solutions. "People are being particularly evasive as to how they will approach dealing with the financial deficit."She commented that some candidates had "sat on the fence" regarding their stance on taxation policies. Guernsey's States agreed to introduce a 5% GST, a new 15% rate of income tax for earnings under £30,000 and reform social security contributions last year. Previously the States Treasury had projected there would be a £100m deficit by 2040. BBC Guernsey has hosted four Your Voice, Your Vote events, with four more to go this week.
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Why has 'the buzz' worn off Guernsey elections?
In 2020 a new voting system attracted record numbers to sign up to Guernsey's electoral roll but five years later "the buzz has worn off" according to a leading academic. Dr Christopher Pich - who has studied Channel Island electoral systems - said the "novelty" of the island's new voting system had said that meant fewer people had signed up to vote in this year's elections, with around 3,000 fewer people on the roll than in 2020. 31,000 people signed up for the electoral roll in 2020 for the first island-wide poll, compared to 27,316 in 2025. Officials said 1,186 people aged between 15 and 19 had signed up to the electoral roll this year, as well as 1,198 people aged between 20 and Pich, associate professor in marketing at Nottingham University Business School, said that in 2020 the island saw the emergence of three political parties which provoked interest. "It signified a new way of electioneering and all this generated some excitement at the 2020 general election." 'Not engaged' BBC Guernsey visited a tattooist, a barber shop and a dentist's surgery in St Peter Port to check out whether there was a "buzz" around the Chloe Smith said she had not registered because she did not really engage with politics on a day-to-day basis."People don't talk about it when they get tattoos and I don't really listen to the radio, watch the TV that often so I'm not really educated in it," she said. Barber Coralie Benton said she had signed up to the electoral roll. "I think if you want to have a say, this is the perfect opportunity," she said. "I think I shouldn't really moan if there's something I don't like, I've not registered to have my say. It is life admin, registering, tricky to get round with other priorities in life, but if you want to see the country run in a certain way."People don't come and get their hair done and talk about Guernsey politics though, it's mainly American and what is in the news."Dental practice manager Nicola Hughes said she had not signed on to the electoral roll because she was about to move away from the island. 'Disruptive voices' Dr Pich said the trend in Guernsey mirrored trends across the world. "Looking beyond the shores of Guernsey, voter disengagement, cynicism and widening disconnection between voters and electoral participation is on the rise since the beginning of the 1990s," he said. "This growing trend raises many concerns among policymakers, researchers and elected officials." He warned if voter disengagement continued to rise "it poses direct threats to the integrity of electoral democracy, the stability and governance of states and empowers disruptive voices."
