Mac ekes out a victory in close WBW race
(CNS): Mario Ebanks
Mario Ebanks: Candidate for West Bay West. Chief Human Resources Officer at the Cayman Islands Airports Authority. Biography: • Eighth generation Caymanian, with great-grandparents from... More came very close to removing the longest serving member of Parliament Wednesday night in a very tight race for West Bay West. McKeeva Bush
McKeeva Bush (CDP), West Bay West MLA Speaker of the LA, Leader of the Cayman Democratic Party. Biography: Bush is the longest serving member and... More was returned to office but his once hefty majority was sliced down to the wire, with Ebanks losing by just 27 votes.
Bush secured just over 51% of the vote, compared to his more than 72% in 2017 after the head to head battle in which Bush had to fight hard to win. It is clear that his assault conviction played a part in him losing a significant share of the vote in a district where he could once not only secure a massive victory for himself but carry the other three candidates as well.
However, Bush will be going to Parliament alone after Bernie Bush and Kathy Ebanks-Wilks secured their WBN and WBC seats, ousting the incumbent Captain Eugen Ebanks and keeping out the challenger, Rolston Anglin, both of whom were running in an alliance with Bush.
This means that the once central political figure will have little influence in the make-up of the new government and is unlikely to regain his prestigious office as speaker, given that the PPM have secured just enough of their own seats to be able to bargain with some of the new independents to ensure that they retain power.
The turnout for WBW was around 70% of registered voters. A total of 889 votes were cast, 458 for Bush and 431 for Ebanks.
Category: Election News
