De Sausmarez first of 11 women in Guernsey's States

Newcomers and seasoned politicians among a cohort of females that make up more than a quarter of the Assembly.

Guernsey's 2025 election results showed strong voter backing for female candidates, something pushed for by the group Women in Public Life.

There are now eleven women in the new Assembly, four are returning deputies with Yvonne Burford taking second spot, and Sasha Kazantseva-Miller and Tina Bury returned in the top 10.

Lindsay De Sausmarez was a convincing poll-topper with more than 10,700 votes, and could not quite believe it:

"I was really quite worried about the prospect of losing my seat."

She is not committing yet to her political ambitions this term: 

"Any personal aspirations definitely need to take a back seat to the bigger picture stuff. 

"I am aware at the same time that we have lost experience and expertise and a lot of people who have worked just as hard, so I am sad to see some colleagues not in the next Assembly."

Newcomer Munazza Malik was quick to praise the efforts of Women in Public Life in this election:

"I think that is a brilliant thing, and a lot of that has got to do with the Women in Public Life group, - they have been encouraging. 

"They had a campaign to encourage women to stand and I've been a part of them for the last year.

" I think that is where a lot of women are getting their encouragement to stand for public office.

"I hope that I will be able to fulfil (voters') expectations and I am excited to get ready to work."

The position of Education president again jinxed the incumbent, with Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen gaining just over 5,000 votes, but too few to get re-elected. This has happened over the past several elections, which could mean voters do not entirely support the direction of education reform in Guernsey.

Also missing out on a place in the States are former Education members Sue Aldwell and Sam Haskins.

Teacher Paul Montague was the highest placed newcomer. He polled fifth, with more then 8,880 votes:

"I do need to look at ESC (Education, Sport and Culture) but because some of the other deputies haven't been elected, I will need to consider what that now means, but HSC is another area of real interest for me."

Although turnout was high at just under 73%, the number of people choosing not to vote concerns him:

"There were only 19,000 people that voted, so I think that is a real problem in terms of democracy for our island. 

"With regard to island-wide voting, I think a lot of people felt (they) lost out with the lack of local hustings and so forth, so I think that is something we need to consider reasonably soon."

Forward Guernsey was the only political party and half of its six candidates were successful. Tom Rylatt is in the party and is also the youngest States member:

"I know that we need to hit the ground running. There is a lot of work to do. We can't be popping champagne for too long!  As soon as 1 July hits we will have to working together and forming some constructive relationships."

"We have worked so hard to get this message out. We had to try and convince people that we had learnt from the mistakes of last time.

"We need to show that this can work within the Guernsey system. We need build that trust, earn that trust and deliver for people."

Deputy Charles Parkinson did well in third place and has been heard to say he wants the top job, the head of the Policy and Resources Committee.

Deputies Mark Helyar and Jonathan Le Tocq are also known to be keen.

The committee election process is underway unofficially, with calls and messages being made between the deputies elect.

The new Assembly will meet in early July.