What is it like to lose your seat in an election?

One said it was not the result he had hoped for. Another simply said: "That's politics." With all the results announced, eight formerly-sitting politicians have lost their seats in Jersey's general election. So, what do you do afterwards?

Sam Mézec, Rob Ward, Steve Luce, David Warr, Mike Jackson, Kevin Lewis, Raluca Kovacs and Steve Ahier all find themselves out of a job, with four years until islanders next go to the polls.

Someone who understands their experience is Steve Pallett. He was the Constable of St Brelade and later a senator between 2011 and 2022 when he unsuccessfully stood to be a deputy as a Progress Party candidate.

"It's always upsetting to some degree because you don't do it to lose, you do want to be successful," he reflected. "I think you just have to dust yourself off.

"I'm lucky - I have always had a trade and worked in the building industry somewhere.

"I just thought I needed to get back on that horse and get riding. And I did that almost immediately."

Prior to being elected, Pallett had owned a fibreglass company and he has run a property maintenance business since 2022.

"[Losing] wasn't the end of the world and it's not going to be the end of the world for those that lose. You have to be prepared to lose," he said.

After several people asked, he stood for election again. This year, he rivalled Mike Jackson for Constable of St Brelade in a repeat of the 2005 and 2011 races.

"I think people need better representation and for me, that's what it's about," he explained.

Pallett was successful this time, securing more than 750 more votes than Jackson.

The most high-profile politician to fail to be re-elected this year was Reform Jersey's leader Sam Mézec.

He served in the States Assembly for 12 years, most recently as housing minister, when he introduced sweeping tenancy reforms.

In a post on social media, he suggested he would step down as the party's leader.

"It wasn't the result we were hoping for, but I am immensely grateful to everyone who voted for me and supported me in my time as a states member over the years," he wrote.

"It will now be the job of new leadership of Reform Jersey to take our movement forward."

Of the party, he said: "It remains the only vehicle through which ordinary islanders will ever truly have their interests represented in the states."

Fellow Reform Jersey politician and outgoing Education Minister Rob Ward, who was unsuccessful in his attempt to become St Helier constable, said the benefit of not getting elected was "losing the constant scrutiny".

He told BBC Jersey: "Congratulations to everyone who was elected, and I'm looking forward to the next part of my life. [I] had a great eight years and [I am] honoured to have served the community."

Suzie Webb missed out on a seat as a deputy in 2022 by 32 votes.

She said: "I couldn't understand why everyone was saying: 'You've done so well.'

"How could I have done so well? I didn't get in. But, when I analysed it later, I did do quite well."

She decided to keep working behind the scenes, on the Rates Committee and as editor of the parish magazine.

"When people don't get in, they disappear, and I didn't want to do that," she said.

Webb stood again this year, this time in the race for St Saviour Constable, but again missed out.

Speaking before that vote, she said she would again return to parish work if she lost, although it would be difficult at first.

Kevin Lewis, who lost his seat in St Saviour after serving the parish for 21 years, was disappointed and said he had "another four years" in him, but the result meant it was time to retire.

He thanked his supporters and said he hoped his successor, Constable-elect Dave Curtis, would continue projects he had started.

Gregory Guida, who lost his seat in the revamped St John, St Lawrence and Trinity district in June 2022, heard the news over the phone.

"Actually, I was in bed," he said. "We got the results very late in the night, so a friend called me and said that we'd lost the election and that was it, basically."

He said it was "not very good for the ego to lose anything", but he was looking forward to doing other things after being a politician for four years and working "10 hours a day, seven days a week".

"There was nothing else in my life. To get freedom after that was actually quite a relief," he said.

He said he kept busy as the president of the Société Jersiaise, which studies the island's history.

He said politicians should approach their roles more like "a service than a job".

"You cannot see it as: 'That's how I make my living.' Otherwise, you'd do anything to keep it. You'd promise anything, you'd descend to any level to keep it, and that's really not what politicians should be about."

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