Monday, 16 June 2025
There are just two days to go until Guernsey’s general election, and University of Nottingham academic Dr Christopher Pich, has been invited to be a key contributor in the analysis and commentary of this year’s BBC coverage.
Dr Pich – Associate Professor in Marketing at Nottingham University Business School will sit with a panel of experts for the live BBC Guernsey’s election coverage including the results show, which will be broadcast on BBC Radio Guernsey 8pm-1pm on Thursday 19th June.
BBC Radio Guernsey and Jim Delbridge will guide listeners through the twists and turns of the Guernsey 2025 General Election, with experts from across Guernsey politics sharing their insights. The election coverage will also feed into the online content and BBC Channel Islands News.
“it is an honour to be back as part of the expert panel for 2025 after contributing and commenting on previous elections in Guernsey. 82 candidates are fighting for 38 seats in Guernsey’s Parliament. I can’t wait to reflect on the campaign strategies, and tactics used in this year’s election and debate the burning issues important to voters in Guernsey. This election, housing, tax, the cost of living and the political system (island-wide voting) seem to be burning topics debated throughout the campaign.”
Dr Pich’s research area focuses on political marketing, political branding and voter engagement in national and international jurisdictions including Guernsey and Jersey. Earlier this year Nottingham University Business School hosted a symposium which focused on the rise of cynicism and misinformation in politics. The symposium, Marketing for Greater Good: Strategies to Strengthen Democratic Engagement – held on Wednesday 9 April 2025 – shared the latest insights on how to strengthen engagement with voters through the lens of ‘political marketing’ and presented a toolkit on how to tackle the rise of cynicism and misinformation in politics.
The number of people engaging in the electoral process indicates democratic health. However, voter disengagement, cynicism, and a widening disconnection between voters and electoral participation are on the rise, and this trend is not restricted to one jurisdiction. In fact, voter engagement has been declining across the globe since the beginning of the 1990s, and this growing trend raises many concerns among policymakers, researchers, and elected officials. The symposium featured talks from expert speakers over three sessions, where speakers examined how marketing principles and frameworks can be used to co-develop and coordinate strategies and programmes to impact policy on civic engagement, voter engagement and citizenship.
“I look forward to discussing the outcome of the election and debating what this means for Guernsey’s Parliament. For example, will the current format of island-wide voting used to elect the 38 Deputies (Guernsey’s Parliamentarians) feature in future elections? It will also be interesting to see if Guernsey’s new political party ‘Forward Guernsey’ breaks through, it will be fascinating to see if candidates aligned to the political group Fair Tax Guernsey’ are elected, and I am curious to know how many former or new Deputies (Guernsey’s Parliamentarians) are successful at the polls.”
Story credits
More information is available from Dr Christopher Pich in Nottingham University Business School, via christopher.pich@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 97 in the world and 17th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the third most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2024 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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