Although North Side MLA Ezzard Miller and East End MLA Arden
McLean have whipped some of the community into a one-man-one-vote frenzy, we
feel it is important to throw a dose of harsh reality on this spectrum of
democratic euphoria.
This isn’t to say the Caymanian Compass is against the
concept of one-person, one vote. To the contrary we support every citizen in
the Cayman Islands having the same number of votes in a national election,
whether that number is one or more.
However, we also support the concept of reality.
Even if Mr. Miller and Mr. McLean and their supporters are
successful in gathering verifiable signatures of a least 25 per cent of the
electorate to force the government to have a referendum, they can’t actually
force the government to have it at any specific time as they are attempting.
Section 70(2)(c) of The Cayman Islands Constitution Order
2009, which deals with people-initiated referendums, states “the Cabinet shall
make a determination on the date the referendum shall be held in a manner
prescribed by law”. Cayman’s
Constitution clearly states that the date for a people-initiated referendum is
set by Cabinet. Cabinet has now stated
that the referendum will be held at the time of the next election. That should
pretty much end this fanciful debate.
While it’s true that single member constituencies would
benefit the aspirations of some candidates, it is merely political showmanship
to wage a futile campaign that doesn’t have support of the Constitution.
A referendum on single member constituencies is likely to
fail at the polls in any case because of the high threshold for passage
required by the Constitution: 50 per cent of the electorate, not of those
voting. If a referendum were to be held outside of the general election, the
initiative would face even greater odds because of the lower voter turnout that
occurs when referendums are held outside of general elections.
As we have said before, the best way for the country to
adopt single member constituencies is to give a mandate to candidates that
campaign on instituting ‘one person, one vote’.
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Sad to see you guys throw in the towel…
I am very disappointed that the Editorial or perhaps Advertising sales staff of the Compass have chosen this position. All experience shows that our politicians always do what is best for themselves even when this involves changing their minds. Perhaps when confronted with the massive public support which this petition is generating Cabinet will see its self interest in going ahead with the referendum. Will the Compass then say it was in support of the petition all along?
Ezzard and Arden are looking to introduce 1 man – 1 vote before the next election to break up the political strong holds of the UDP. Their desired time frame is politically motivated. The urgency is based upon politics. It baffles me that this issue wasn’t sorted out during the constitutional negotiations with the UK, where were these voices then?