2013 Caymanian general election

2013 Caymanian general election

22 May 2013 (2013-05-22)
18 seats in the Legislative Assembly of the Cayman Islands 10 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	79.93%
First party Second party   Leader Alden McLaughlin McKeeva Bush Party PPM UDP Leader since 2011 2001 Leader's seat George Town West Bay Last election 5 seats, 29.8% 9 seats, 44.2% Seats before 4 4 Seats won 9 3 Seat change +5 -1 Popular vote 21,859 16,816 Percentage 36.1% 27.8% Swing +6.3 -16.4   Third party Fourth party   Leader Juliana O'Connor-Connolly Party C4C PNA Leader since 2012 2012 Leader's seat did not run Cayman Brac and Little Cayman Last election – – Seats before 0 5 Seats won 3 1 Seat change +3 -4 Popular vote 11,275 3,436 Percentage 18.6% 5.7% Swing – –
Premier before election Juliana O'Connor-Connolly PNA Elected Premier Alden McLaughlin PPM

General elections were held in the Cayman Islands on 22 May 2013. The incumbent United Democratic Party (UDP) government fell on a motion of non-confidence in December 2012 and was replaced by an interim government made up of former UDP members who formed the People's National Alliance (PNA). The main competition in the election was between the People's Progressive Movement (Progressives) and the UDP, with the PNA and a new political group the Coalition for Cayman (C4C) presenting an insufficient number of candidates to win a majority government.

The Progressives won half of the seats (9), with the UDP and C4C taking 3 each, and outgoing Premier of the Cayman Islands Juliana O'Connor-Connolly holding the only seat for the PNA. The two incumbent independents were also re-elected. Progressive leader Alden McLaughlin formed a new government.

Background

In the 2009 elections, the United Democratic Party led by its founder and former Premier McKeeva Bush won a majority government. Bush returned to office as Premier until December 2012, when he lost a motion of confidence in the legislature. The confidence motion was triggered by a criminal investigation of Bush and was supported by the opposition People's Progressive Movement and dissident members of his own party, including members of the cabinet. A new government was formed by these dissidents, led by Bush's former deputy Juliana O'Connor-Connolly. Bush would later be charged with four counts of breach of trust, and five counts of theft. Bush continued to lead his party. O'Connor-Connolly and her cabinet formed their own party called the People's National Alliance, but only the five incumbent cabinet ministers stood as candidates under its banner. A fourth party, the Coalition for Cayman, put forward seven candidates, whilst 17 independents also contested the elections.

Electoral system

The outgoing Legislative Assembly had 18 members, of which three were appointed (the Chief Secretary, the Attorney-General and the Financial Secretary) and 15 were elected. However, under constitutional changes passed in 2009, the new assembly will have 18 elected members. George Town gained 2 new seats, and Bodden Town gained one new seat. Each of the six districts forms a constituency, with six members elected in George Town, four each in West Bay and Bodden Town, two in Cayman Brac and Little Cayman and one in North Side and East End. The members of the multi-member districts are elected by plurality-at-large voting, where every voter can vote for as many candidates as there are seats.

Results

The opposition Progressives more than doubled their seat count to 9, bringing them one seat short of an overall majority. Progressive leader Alden McLaughlin has said he will talk with Change for Cayman (C4C) and independent MLAs about the possibility of supporting his government. Another option would be having an opposition member become speaker, which would give the Progressives a majority of 9-8 among voting members.

The opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) lost 1 seat but was down 6 from their 2009 result, and failed to sweep the West Bay district for the first time in 12 years. The governing People's National Alliance, a breakaway group from the UDP, lost 4 of its 5 seats. C4C, a new political organization, won 3 seats, while incumbent independents Ezzard Miller and Arden McLean (a former Progressive) held their seats.

By district

George Town (6 members)
Result	Candidate		Votes	Vote %	Incumbent
First Elected Member		Kurt Tibbetts	2470	41.9%		Kurt Tibbetts
Second Elected Member		Roy McTaggart	2160	36.7%		Michael Adam
Third Elected Member		Alden McLaughlin	2145	36.4%		Alden McLaughlin
Fourth Elected Member		Marco Archer	2085	35.4%		Ellio Solomon
Fifth Elected Member		Winston Conolly	2039	34.6%		new seat
Sixth Elected Member		Joseph Hew	1940	32.9%		new seat
Unsuccessful candidates		Michael Adam	1889	32.1%
		Sharon Roulstone	1812	30.8%
		Lucille Seymour	1768	30.0%
		Kenneth Bryan	1735	29.5%
		Jude Scott	1681	28.5%
		Derrington Miller	1590	27.0%
		Ellio Solomon	1528	25.9%
		Jonathan Piercy	1439	24.4%
		Walling Whittaker	1413	24.0%
		Renard Moxam	1345	22.8%
		Rayal Bodden	1330	22.6%
		Stefan Baraud	1124	19.1%
		Jaqueline Hayes	1035	17.6%
		Frank McField	211	3.6%
		Mathew Leslie	91	1.5%

West Bay (4 members)
Result	Candidate		Votes	Vote %	Incumbent
First Elected Member		McKeeva Bush	1583	47.3%		McKeeva Bush
Second Elected Member		Tara Rivers	1483	44.3%		Rolston Anglin
Third Elected Member		Bernie Bush	1460	43.6%		Cline Glidden
Fourth Elected Member		Eugene Ebanks	1307	39.0%		Eugene Ebanks
Unsuccessful candidates		Velma Powery-Hewitt	1072	32.0%
		Mervin Smith	1065	31.8%
		Woody DaCosta	855	25.5%
		Rolston Anglin	782	23.4%
		Ray Farrington	671	20.0%
		Dalkeith Bothwell	650	19.4%
		Cline Glidden	617	18.4%
		Bryan Ebanks	552	16.5%
		Dwene Ebanks	370	11.1%
		Andrea Christian	262	7.8%

Bodden Town (4 members)
Result	Candidate		Votes	Vote %	Incumbent
First Elected Member		Anthony Eden	1781	49.6%		Mark Scotland
Second Elected Member		Osbourne Bodden	1615	45.0%		Anthony Eden
Third Elected Member		Wayne Panton	1571	43.7%		Dwayne Seymour
Fourth Elected Member		Alva Suckoo	1393	38.8%		new seat
Unsuccessful candidates		Maureen Pitcairn	1352	37.6%
		Charles Clifford	1220	34.0%
		Christopher Saunders	1098	30.6%
		Mark Scotland	864	24.1%
		Dwayne Seymour	712	19.8%
		Errington Webster	512	14.3%
		Arnold Berry	206	5.7%
		Gregg Anderson	192	5.3%
		Vincent Frederick	136	3.8%

Cayman Brac and Little Cayman (2 members)
Result	Candidate		Votes	Vote %	Incumbent
First Elected Member		Moses Kirkconnell	628	75.2%		Moses Kirkconnell
Second Elected Member		Juliana O'Connor-Connolly	461	55.2%		Juliana O'Connor-Connolly
Unsuccessful candidates		David Bodden	186	22.3%
		Maxine McCoy-Moore	93	11.1%

North Side (1 member)
Result	Candidate		Votes	Vote %	Incumbent
Elected Member		Ezzard Miller	326	70.1%		Ezzard Miller
Unsuccessful candidate		Joseph Ebanks	139	29.9%

East End (1 member)
Result	Candidate		Votes	Vote %	Incumbent
Elected Member		Arden McLean	317	57.2%		Arden McLean
Unsuccessful candidate		John McLean	237	42.8%

Aftermath

Government formation

No party won an overall majority, but with the Progressives winning half of the seats and three times more seats than any other grouping, they're expected to form the government, either on their own or in coalition with independent members. It is expected that the government will be formed within a week of the election.

Independent members-elect from the C4C group and others had held preliminary talks among themselves to see about forming a coalition government with the Progressives. However, Alden McLaughlin's Progressives have secured a workable majority in the legislature by getting the agreement of outgoing premier Juliana O'Connor-Connolly to serve as speaker, leaving the Progressives a 9-8 majority of ordinarily voting members. McLaughlin held a news conference on Saturday May 25 naming the Progressives that would sit in cabinet and also indicating that he had asked C4C-backed MLA Tara Rivers to join the cabinet, which would give the government a 10-7 working majority. Thereafter, Rivers held a public meeting to assess her constituents views on whether to join the cabinet, the public was nearly unanimous in supporting her to join. Following Rivers public meeting, the two other C4C MLAs indicated that they would reconsider their previous announcement not to join the government. As a result, McLaughlin cancelled a planned morning news conference on Tuesday May 28 in order to have further discussions with the C4C MLAs with an eye to a potential Progressives/C4C coalition government.

Later Tuesday, it was announced that O'Connor-Connolly would join the Progressive caucus despite earlier statements that she would not do so when she was announced as speaker. As a result, the Progressives have a true majority of 10-8 allowing them to be appointed to government by the Governor of the Cayman Islands without a vote of the legislature. Thereafter, McLaughlin announced the full make-up of his cabinet, including a portfolio for C4C MLA Tara Rivers. McLaughlin also announced that C4C MLA Winston Connolly would sit in the government caucus and play a role in Rivers' ministry in a non-cabinet position and that the government would support the other C4C MLA Roy McTaggart for chair of the Public Accounts Committee. Two weeks after the election, McTaggart crossed the floor to sit with his C4C colleagues in the government caucus, accordingly he will have to step down from his position as Chairman of Public Accounts, a post always occupied by an opposition member. This leaves the government with a 13-5 majority.

Electoral reform

This will be the last election under the block voting system as a result of the election of the Progressives. Progressive leader Alden McLaughlin reiterated his commitment after the election to move to a "one man one vote" system with a single-member electoral districts. McLaughlin will use the result of the non-binding 2012 referendum on such a system rather than holding a new referendum.

Eligibility challenges

After the results of the vote, the husband of the fifth-place finisher in the West Bay electoral district Velma Powery-Hewitt, filed a suit in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands challenging the eligibility of Tara Rivers to have run and serve in the legislative assembly. Had the challenge been successful, Powery-Hewitt stood to take Rivers' seat in the legislature.

The Cayman Islands constitution forbids election to the legislative assembly to a person:

• not born in the Cayman Islands from having been absent from the Cayman Islands for more than 400 days in the preceding 7 years, unless it was for government service, service at air or at sea, or for educational or medical reasons.
• who holds another citizenship "save for any right he or she may have to some other citizenship by virtue of his or her birth outside the Cayman Islands."

The challenger argued that Rivers had been absent to the UK for more than 400 days where Rivers worked at a law firm. Rivers argued that her work at the law firm included extensive training and that it should be deemed "attendance as a student at (an) educational establishment" as permitted by the constitution. The challenger also argued that by applying for and receiving a U.S. passport, to which Rivers was entitled by virtue of having been born there, she was express allegiance to the United States and was therefore ineligible under the restrictions against dual citizenship. Rivers argued that no allegiance was given in exchange for the passport and that she was required by law as a U.S. citizen to enter the U.S. using a U.S. passport, not the passport of another country.

The court ruled with Rivers and she was allowed to keep her seat. This prompted some complaint from others who did not present themselves as candidates though they had the same qualifications as Rivers but were advised they were ineligible to run by elections officials, and by an individual who had renounced her U.S. citizenship believing she had to do so to run. Powery-Hewitt's husband later attempted to appeal the decision, but as the Constitution states that electoral questions are the sole jurisdiction of the Grand Court, the Court of Appeal declined to hear the case.