Electoral map to undergo review this year

| 15/01/2023 | 40 Comments
Source: Cayman Islands Elections Office

(CNS): A new Electoral Boundary Commission has been appointed by Governor Martyn Roper which will begin work this year on re-examining the current boundaries that form the 19 constituencies across the Cayman Islands. Under the Constitution, a commission must be appointed to look at the electoral map and make recommendations every eight years. Since the last report was finished in August 2015, Cayman is due for another review, which is likely to result in changes to boundaries in several constituencies.

After consultation with the premier and opposition leader, the governor has reappointed the 2015 team, namely UK expert Lisa R. Handley as chairperson of the commission, and local attorneys Steve McField and Adriannie Webb as members. The commission will be consulting with the voters in all 19 seats and is expected to submit their recommendations by June of this year.

Cayman News Service
Electoral Boundary Commission (L-R) Adrianne Webb, Dr Lisa Handley (chair) and Steve McField (File photo from 2015)

“In preparing their report, the Constitution stipulates that Commission members must invite views from members of the public and take account of the Cayman Islands’ natural boundaries and existing electoral districts,” the governor said in a release about the commission. “They must also ensure ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’ that each constituency contains an equal number of persons qualified to be registered as electors. The Constitution also requires that Cayman Brac and Little Cayman continue to return at least two members to the Assembly.”

As reported on CNS earlier this month, there are currently 23,494 people on the electoral roll and several constituencies have grown significantly over the last seven years, creating significant disparities (see chart below). The two smallest constituencies are both on the Sister Islands but they are unlikely to change due to the constitutional requirement that Cayman Brac and Little Cayman have two representatives. However, there may be a serious shake-up of the districts on Grand Cayman.

While North Side and East End are geographically large, the number of voters is extremely small. Given the size of the growing constituencies, especially in Bodden Town, it is unlikely that the historical natural boundaries of those seats will remain the same. The district of West Bay is also very likely to see some boundary shifts.

While boundaries are based on voter numbers, the commission will also need to take into account the population growth of each constituency and the likely number of people that are eligible but not registered to vote as well as the population numbers in general.

Number of voters by electoral district, as of 1 January 2023:

See the EBC members’ bios in the CNS Library


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Category: Elections, Politics

Comments (40)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Will we face facts and rename West Bay South, The Yacht Club; and George Town North, Camana Bay?
    In the Middle, can we have a new constituency? Crystal Harbor?

  2. Corruption is endemic says:

    So, Steve McField, what a great choice!

    He has helped Saunders mess up the PR system, which will inevitably end up in CIG losing multiple lawsuits. So now they have given him something else to F’ up…

  3. Anonymous says:

    Cayman Brac and Little Cayman seem to be overrepresented based on the number of voters in those locations. The case could be made that Cayman Brac and Little Cayman have an oversized and unnatural influence on the rest of the country.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    Have each district vote for 1 representative, that is;
    West Bay ………..1
    George Town………1
    Bodden Town………1
    North Side……….1
    East End…………1
    CB & LC………….1
    Total District MP’s.6
    The remaining 13 MP’s would then be chosen from a National Vote to make up the 19 MP’s. This should be implemented for 8 yeard and after that we go to a full National Election.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Please stop the district nonsense.
    Island wide candidates instead of forcing people to chose from 2 idiots in their district.
    This place is to small to cut up in pieces.
    Absolutely ridiculous.
    Somebody in NorthSide should be able to vote for a candidate from WestBay.
    We’re not in the 1800’s anymore. Hello ????

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    • Anonymous says:

      not the 1800’S?
      How about some of these religious leaders.
      they are forcing us 100’s of years back in time .

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  6. Anonymous says:

    Far too many positions and not enough brain cells.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    It wasn’t really fixed last time, so let’s reward failure and put the same people in again. The Newlands, Savannah and 2 Bodden town districts have 883 more voters at the moment than the 4 West Bays. That’s more people extra than all the voters in any of the little districts. This is not an accident. When the new reapportionment fails to fix any of this, someone in Bodden Town should sue.

  8. Anonymous says:

    mickey mouse wears a cayman islands wrist-watch

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    • Anonymous says:

      correction ..soon 50% of Citizens cannot run for electes office. What kind of democracy is this?

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  9. Anonymous says:

    the whole system is a joke and is a laughable ‘democracy’….
    how can you have elections when 50% of residents have zero representation????

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  10. Anonymous says:

    re-arranging deck chairs on the titanic…
    its a waste of time when you prevent the most qualified and successful people on island from being elected…
    welcome to wonderland.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    I refuse to wote unless I get my washing machine or massive plasma tv

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  12. Anonymous says:

    It MUST CHNANGE Fundamentally.

    * Multi-Seat Constituencies

    Open to 15 or 16 seats on a regional basis – e.g.
    1 X 3 seater (comprising NS, EE & the sister islands),
    1 x 5 seater (GT) and
    2 x 4 seaters (SMB & WB) and (Prospect to EE)

    One “Islands wide” constituency of a 3 seater.

    * Proportional Representation

    That way we could vote in a local or regional constituency and/or on the “islands-wide” seat (or not – one or both)…

    …surely, that way we would have some sort of choice….. wouldn’t it (naively in hope!!!???)

    BUT SINGLE SEAT/First Past The Post/Winner Take All – the “so-called” “One MAN One Wote”…MUST surely go…..Get rid of the “West Kingston” effect……

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  13. Anonymous says:

    If you’re in office for more than a decade, that’s not a democracy in my eyes.

  14. Anonymous says:

    National voting is what is needed to end the corruption! District voting seals the deals for corruption!

    I don’t want half the MLAS there now in power. But I can’t vote for or against them as I’m restricted to my district!

    Change the system

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    • Anonymous says:

      What many of us thought one man one vote was intended to do.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Voters that don’t understand that there is no mechanism to vote against someone, is exactly how buffoonery outsmarts the masses.

      Similarly, barring “criminals” from politics and committees would seem to be an obvious first step to cut back on the corruption.

      Yet this logical amendment still seems beyond contemplation, even after all the years and headlines we’ve lived. Voters can lead a petition to change the law at any time.

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  15. Anonymous says:

    we can see how unfair it is just by looking at the chart.

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  16. Anonymous says:

    It appears obvious that Cayman Brac and Little Cayman should be one voting district.

    Combined, they are still below average population-wise so they would still be over represented.

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  17. John says:

    Britain has about 600 MPs for about 60 million people.
    That’s 1 MP per 100,000 people.

    Why does a country of about 60,000 people (including work permit holders and permanent residents) need 19 of them? All on fat salaries.

    Can trim it down to 1 for West Bay, 1 for George Town, 1 for Bodden Town, East End and Northside and 1 for the sister Islands.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Because there is still a government to run? How do you propose to run a government with that few people? Boundaries should be redrawn but your suggestion is farcical.

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      • JTB says:

        The government would run far more efficiently with no MPs at all.

      • Anonymous says:

        And you think the MOs and ministers actually do anything? It’s run by our equally massively oversized civil service. All the mini busters are meant to do is give policy direction. And it doesn’t require 19 people to do that. And all the MOs are meant to do is represent their constituents interests – which as the OP said takes one person in the UK. A low constituent to MP ratio has major disadvantages ranging from overdue influence by individuals through to making it way easier and cheaper to get elected by buying votes – hence the popularity of fridges/ turkeys/ TVs and drive way paving.

    • Anonymous says:

      Based on the current ratio of 1 MLA for every 1263 voters, I’d expect that the voters would be experiencing a high quality of political representation and contact. Instead, the opposite- there is dissatisfaction.

      I believe the same dissatisfaction exists in Britain with a 1/100,000 ratio of representation.

      If the ratio of 1/1263 does not greatly improve the voter satisfaction over those with a 1/100,000 ratio, what is the real challenge here?

      🤔 🤨 🤫 🤐

  18. Anonymous says:

    Pray tell.
    Why can we only vote the Constituency in which we live; but the MPs do Not have to live in the Constituency or even the districts that they represent??!!

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  19. Beaumont Zodecloun says:

    Do away with the party system, and everything becomes evident. Every elector should get two votes: One for their District MP, and one for Premier. The end.

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  20. Anonymous says:

    Seems to me that CBE and CBW/LC could be combined. Really two representative for Brac and Little- because the constitution requires it! NS and EE combine. Not sure why we need 19 representative for less than 24,000 voters.
    Seems like there is a lot of bureaucracy and politicians for such a small population.

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  21. Anonymous says:

    So Steve has made a major mess of the PR and Cayman status board now he gets a chance to mess up the constituencies. I mean really …? There is no one else ?

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  22. Anonymous says:

    The sister island seats should become just one. Similarly the East End and North Side seats should be amalgamated. Everyone knows that but unfortunately it won’t happen

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  23. Anonymous says:

    We have far too many MPs, and precious few of them are sufficiently competent to design and amend our laws. Steve McField shouldn’t be anywhere near politics.

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  24. Anonymous says:

    They are too cowardly to bring about equal representation.

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  25. Anonymous says:

    The Cayman Islands urgently needs changes to the Elections Law that prohibits the nomination of any MP candidate with a prior criminal record, addiction problem, any other serious conviction involving moral turpitude (eg DUIs in Traffic Court), a mechanism to disqualify them should they get one while in office. Even better if we could insist they all have earned a legitimate high school diploma, as a minimum education hurdle.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I’m not sure I agree. The problem is not that the people with the histories you describe can stand for election. The problem is that they get voted in! As Trump once said he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and still get elected. Our politicians are similar; they can beat up women or deal cocaine and still get voted in. Expanding our voting pool would be a help.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Government should also not do business with “consultants” who have had a criminal judgement against them.

      • Anonymous says:

        They can’t get on the ballot if Caymanian voters agree that the law needs to bar them from candidacy/continuance.

      • Anonymous says:

        No, the problem is that they are eligible for consideration to begin with. We need stringent prerequisites for political positions and we need to prioritize education so that our voting pool isn’t swayed by bombastic personalities over qualified professionals. Until these prerequisites are put into law we will continue to be stuck with loud idiots propped up for someone’s personal gain.

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