PPM announces electoral reform for 2017
(CNS Business): When voters in the Cayman Islands go to the polls in 2017 all of them will have just one vote, as the ruling Progressives party has now committed to ‘one man, one vote’ in single member constituencies, as was promised in their 2013 election campaign. Currently voters in four of the six districts have multiple votes corresponding to the number of representatives, which many have seen as both unfair and undemocratic. However, in a press conference Wednesday, Premier Alden McLaughlin said that the government will bring a motion to the Legislative Assembly next week, on Wednesday 10 September, to start the process towards electoral reform.
“The aim is to ensure that this change will come about in good time for the next general election,” he promised.
In 2013, the 7,401 voters in George Town had six votes, in West Bay (4,181 voters) and Bodden Town (4,532 voters) they had four votes, in the Sister Islands (1,021) they had two votes each, while in North Side (592 voters) and East End (637 voters) they each had just one vote. The electoral changes will create 18 new districts of roughly the same size, though the the premier has said that Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are constitutionally entitled to at least two representatives and North Side and East End would continue to be separate districts, despite their size.
The Government motion will ask the Legislative Assembly to invite the Governor, under section 80 of the Constitution, to appoint an Electoral Boundary Commission, and for the Commission to be charged under section 89(6) of the Constitution to determine the boundaries of the Electoral Districts of the Cayman Islands. Once the work of the Commission is done the Government will submit to the LA a draft bill to make the necessary amendments to the Elections Law (2013 Revision), the premier said.
McLaughlin said a new Boundary Commission was not only a requirement under the Constitution, but was also needed because the voters list has swelled by over 3,000 new voters (over 20%) since the 2010 Boundary Commission report was published.  “This is too large a number to ignore and mandates that a new Boundary Commission be appointed to carefully consider where the changes have occurred and to recommend where boundaries should be drawn to ensure equality of voters in each electoral constituency,” he said.  “We cannot rely on a 2010 Electoral Boundary report that is now outdated.”
Related article on CNS:Â Alden commits to OMOV
Visit the Elections Office websiteÂ
Press Briefing on Electoral Reform (3-Sep-14)Â – Full statement
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