PPM not accepting ‘will of people’

(CNS): Premier Designate Wayne Panton has confirmed that his group met with the Progressive leader, Roy McTaggart, on Saturday but the meeting lasted just fifteen minutes because, Panton said, the PPM is still not grasping the reality of the election result and the mounting pressure from the public for a government led by Independent candidates. He said he reached out to McTaggart to provide the party with an opportunity to be represented in the next government but after a short time it was clear the Progressives have not yet accepted the results of the elections.

While the horsetrading continues, Panton stressed that twelve Independent candidates were elected, as opposed to seven Progressive members, and PACT believes it is clear the next government should be led by Independents.

“My team have asked that we make the best efforts to have a government that is robust, reflective and inclusive of the broadest cross section of our community, including Cayman Brac and Little Cayman,” Panton said in a statement from his office late Saturday afternoon.

“It is on that basis that I approached the Progressives. Unfortunately, it is clear they have not yet accepted the results of the elections and the will of the people and the meeting ended after 15 minutes. My team is busy meeting over the weekend finalising the composition of the Cabinet and expects to make an announcement on Monday,” he added.

McTaggart issued a brief statement Saturday suggesting that the meeting he had was about the possibility of forming a coalition government between the PPM-Alliance and the Independents who are still a part of Panton’s group. However, all but three of the Independents remain part of his group, with just one being inside McTaggart’s Alliance.

The current count of PACT members is nine, so Panton needs one more MP to give him a working majority. However, he has not indicated who this tenth member might be, the possibilities being Isaac Rankine, McKeeva Bush or a member of the PPM-Alliance who is ready to jump ship.

While twelve Independents were elected in the first past the post races in the 19 constituencies, the challenge for them is that they were not running on a collective platform, leaving each candidate free to negotiate after the elections rather than having already made a commitment before.

Nevertheless, eight of the elected independents have stuck together since the night of their election, other than Sabrina Turner’s brief negotiations with the PPM, and have persuaded a ninth, Jay Ebanks, to join them. However, the seven Progressives plus the solidly loyal Dwayne Seymour still have Rankine on their side, unless he can be persuaded to rejoin the PACT group.