Voters in the Cayman Islands will go to the polls on Wednesday to choose the 19 members who will represent them in the territory’s legislative assembly.
Cayman’s 2017 elections will differ from those of previous terms in two major respects: The number of districts has increased from 18 to 19, and a “one man, one vote” system has been implemented for the first time since the 1950s.
In previous elections, voters could cast ballots for between one and six candidates, depending on the district where they lived, according to the Cayman Compass.
When Cayman’s government approved redistricting the territory in November 2015, legislators touted the additional district as a necessary step to prevent a hung parliament, and to decrease the disproportionate voting power of residents in smaller districts, the Economist Intelligence Unit reported at the time.
However, detractors of the system raised concerns that the change would encourage vote buying given that the new districts have only 500 to 1,000 voters each, according to the EIU.
The website for Cayman’s Elections Office states that 19 districts will be contested by 61 candidates, with the two major parties being the ruling People’s Progressive Movement and the Cayman Democratic Party, a party led by former premier and current opposition member McKeeva Bush which rebranded itself last year from the United Democratic Party.
Campaign points
Crime has been one of the major topics on the campaign trail, with candidates proposing solutions including starting more educational programmes at the prison and giving legislators more control over the National Security Council.
Premier Alden McLaughlin has pledged to reduce gun smuggling in Cayman — which has reportedly been on the rise — by 60 percent by creating a national coast guard, according to the Cayman Reporter.
“It is ambitious, but it is something that is doable,” Mr. McLaughlin said. “Safety and security must be one of the most significant issue for any administration. Otherwise all the rest of it is for nought.”
The elections will be observed by officials from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, which reportedly gave the territory’s democratic system a “clean bill of health” after its 2013 elections.
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