Ross Le Brun wins by-election, pledges to act on starter homes
- Ross Le Brun won the by-election, securing 953 votes in a race with 11 candidates and just 17.32% voter turnout
- Le Brun defeated runner-up Carl Meerveld by 62 votes, with results delayed due to discrepancies between declared and counted ballots
- Housing is his key priority, calling for the States to resume building homes directly rather than relying solely on private developers
- He advocates creating a new market of 'starter homes' to bridge the gap between high rents and expensive homeownership
- Le Brun aims to join a committee, potentially Employment & Social Security where he previously served as a non-voting member
After winning election to the States at the third time of asking, there was a simple message from Ross Le Brun: “It’s about what I do with it now”.
After unsuccessful attempts in 2020 and 2025, he won a seat in a by-election characterised by a low turnout.
The result was read out in the early hours of the morning after delays caused by a mismatch between the number of votes each polling station declared they had taken and the numbers manually counted in the hall at Beau Sejour.
There remained an anomaly of two papers.
There were 27,520 registered voters and a total of 4,643 valid votes cast with six blank papers and 110 spoilt papers.
Turnout was 17.32%.
Le Brun said he was surprised by the result after three attempts and being able to get elected in probably a harder way with just one seat and 11 candidates.
“I think people can see maybe that I've worked hard at it. I'm authentic, sincere. There's just no sort of marketing about me.”
Housing will be a key focus of his.
“I'd like the States to stop only thinking of what we were doing already, where we're sort of relying on developers, whereas 20/30, years ago, we were still building States housing.
“The government was a developer, and we need to go back to doing that, and not just building States houses, but try something different, even if it's only a small trial to see if it can work, where we create a new market of starter homes, because I think that's one big area where there's a jump from high rents to a home that’s too expensive.
"There's nothing in between being built that's available to buy.”
He will now look to get a seat on a committee, with an eye on the role that has opened up on Employment & Social Security after the resignation of David Dorrity. He was a non-voting member on that committee last term.
“There'd be some catching up to do, but I could sit back in there. And I think it's important.
“It doesn't really particularly matter which committee, I don't need to be sat on the Housing committee to work on housing. I can produce a requete. But I think it's just important that I am on a committee.”
2026 by-election results:
Ross Le Brun 953 Carl Meerveld 891 Julie-Anne Headington 634 Tamara Menteshvili 440 Sam Haskins 407 Andy Taylor 388 Nikki Symons 371 Stephen Rouxel 230
Q&A
Q: How many times did Ross Le Brun attempt to get elected before winning?
A: Ross Le Brun attempted to get elected three times, with unsuccessful campaigns in 2020 and 2025 before winning the 2026 by-election.
Q: What was the voter turnout for this by-election?
A: The turnout was 17.32%, with 4,643 valid votes cast out of 27,520 registered voters. There were also six blank papers and 110 spoilt papers.
Q: What is Le Brun's main housing policy proposal?
A: Le Brun wants the States to return to directly building housing as they did 20-30 years ago, rather than relying solely on developers. He specifically proposes creating a new market of 'starter homes' to bridge the gap between high rents and expensive homeownership.
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