Election News
(CNS): Jay Ebanks, who is still part of the outgoing UDP minority administration while campaigning to keep his parliamentary seat in North Side as an independent candidate, has backed away from a commitment to supporting an increase in Cayman’s woefully inadequate minimum wage. Answering a question at the Chamber of Commerce Candidate Forum on Friday, […]
(CNS): It’s less than seven weeks until the 2025 General Election, but none of the three parties hoping to secure a majority government on 30 April have produced a manifesto. Despite calls from the voting public for these documents, the CINP, the TCCP and the PPM have all failed to produce details of their policies […]
(CNS): The four candidates challenging incumbent MP Isaac Rankine for his East End seat failed to capitalise on the opportunity to call him out during the first of the Chamber of Commerce’s candidate forums. The candidates all said they planned to solve an array of problems, but Rankine, the current home affairs minister who has […]
(CNS): Governor Jane Owen has issued a call for anyone interested in serving as a domestic observer for the 2025 General Election and Referendum to apply to her office as soon as possible. The Cayman Islands began the practice of deploying local teams to observe the national votes in 2009. These domestic teams work separately from […]
(CNS): The five candidates contesting the geographically largest constituency in the Cayman Islands but with the fewest registered voters on Grand Cayman will be kicking off the Chamber of Commerce’s series of candidate election forums tonight. Incumbent Isaac Rankine (IND), Delmira Bodden (PPM), Roydell Carter (IND), John McLean Jr (IND) and Gueva Richards (CINP) are […]
(CNS): Following the Cayman Islands National Party’s early focus on the Sister Islands, where party leader Dan Scott is hoping to oust the premier from her CBE seat, the CINP has switched its focus to West Bay as the campaign gets underway in earnest. On Tuesday night, following a successful meeting at the weekend for […]
(CNS): One week and more than 30,000 votes later, CNS readers have chosen a dream government that includes only one member of the Progressives. In our latest online straw poll, which offered readers the opportunity to choose their favourite candidates in all 19 constituencies, Roy McTaggart was the only member of the PPM who found […]
(CNS): The outgoing premier of the Cayman Islands, who had previously said she would not contest this upcoming election, promised the Progressives party faithful on Saturday night that she would “give it my best shot” after reconsidering her retirement last week. Crediting God’s plan and securing her mother’s blessing to run one more time, Juliana […]
(CNS): The Elections Office issued 121 ballots yesterday for the upcoming 2025 General Election and Referendum. Of those, 82 postal ballots were dispatched overseas via DHL, ensuring that Caymanians currently working or studying abroad have the opportunity to participate in the vote on 30 April as well as the referendum on cruise berthing, a national […]
(CNS): The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association will be sending a group of election observers to the Cayman Islands to join our local teams to observe both the referendum and the general election on 30 April. The Elections Office told CNS that there will be both international and domestic observers watching the vote again this cycle.
The case for a national vote for Cabinet leaders
James E. Whittaker writes: One of the most common complaints among the voting populace in the Cayman Islands is the continual lack of positive outcomes on the key issues facing the country: the cost of living, affordable housing, energy, healthcare, education and more. Many of us believe the root cause of this is because our […]
Haven’t we had a referendum on cruise berthing before?
Michelle Lockwood, CPR Cayman, writes: You may be wondering: Why are we having a referendum now? Wasn’t this already decided? The short answer is no. CPR Cayman began a petition for a people-initiated referendum in the summer of 2018. Our petition asked: “Should the cruise berthing facility, a matter of national importance, be decided solely […]
To anyone bashing their MP for going AWOL the past four years
Change writes: Every constituency has the same issue when their MP becomes a minister. It is not that they stop caring about their area, but Cabinet members have no choice but to tackle issues at national level, and that takes budget, meetings, reports, travel, conference calls, sitting with lawyers to streamline bills and laws — all […]
Experienced incumbents vs. patriotic candidates
Cayman Sentinel writes: For decades, Caymanian politics has been dominated by the idea that experience is the most valuable asset a candidate can have. Career politicians tell us that because they have been in office before, they are the only ones qualified to lead. They argue that without their knowledge of government operations, the country […]
Repackaged political convenience
Michael Myles writes: As a citizen of my beloved Cayman Islands, I write this with a deep sense of frustration and disgust at how low and dishonest our political landscape has become. On 1 March, I witnessed politics at its worst — a spectacle of hypocrisy disguised as leadership. The chairman of the PPM stood […]
Cascabel 73 writes: There are a few realities that escape voters in our beloved islands. One: No candidate, even if they become a minister, can “change” anything by simply dictating it. In reality, ministers are very limited in what they can do. Even the bills (future laws) they bring are put together by lawyers who do […]
Frankenstein’s monster of Caymanian politics
Unbought Caymanian writes: It’s official — Cayman’s political merry-go-round has taken yet another spin, and we’re right back where we started. The Progressives (PPM), once seen as a somewhat steady hand, have now thrown caution, credibility, and any remaining standards out the window.
Independents, parties and campaign donors
Political Watchdog writes: Yesterday we watched a political telenovela unfold with the second premier and fourth deputy premier walking into parliament. And some people want to blame this on “independents”. Keen observers of Caymanian politics will know this isn’t about being independent or with a party. It’s about the character of the people running and […]
Ideas and oratory versus ‘fridgocracy’
Lite Poll: About 2,500 years ago, the Ancient Greeks developed a radical system of government in which all male citizens voted on the important decisions for their city state. (Slaves and women were not invited.) As democracy progressed, persuasive public speaking became an intrinsic part of politics as men learned, studied and practised the art […]
Same election cliche but new reasons
Charles Clifford writes: Voters are rightly concerned about our 2025 general election. Every four years, we repeat the cliche that “this is the most important election in our history”. That cliche was true for specific reasons in the past, for example, during our post-Hurricane Ivan recovery and again during the COVID-19 pandemic recovery. Read the […]
