Anyone home in the House?

We were somewhat chagrined to end our workweek listening to chaos and confusion as the debate on “one man, one vote” in the Legislative Assembly was brought to an abrupt conclusion Friday afternoon.

There must be some irony in the fact that the one “man,” one vote measure was, in fact, settled by a woman, Speaker of the House Juliana O’Connor Connolly, who stepped in to break a 6-6 stalemate, voting “no” and thus defeating independent MLA Arden McLean’s private member’s motion.

Of more interest to us than the 13 lawmakers who chose sides were the five elected members who were missing from their high-backed chairs when the “yeas” and “nays” were tallied.

We refer specifically to Marco Archer, Osbourne Bodden, Wayne Panton and Tara Rivers (all from the Progressives-led government), and Leader of the Opposition McKeeva Bush.

Apparently none were familiar with Woody Allen’s dictum that “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

Just to be clear, the Compass has not taken a position on “one man, one vote,” or single-member voting districts. We agree with Premier Alden McLaughlin that the topic should be explored at greater length and depth before committing to substantive changes.

The structure of a democracy is a subject that merits sober and objective, even academic, study — approached in a manner that is as serious as the matter itself.
Successive governments have failed to meet that standard in recent years, with a hastily called referendum in 2012, shallow campaign slogans in 2013 and the recent “gotcha” roll call in the House.

While Mr. McLean’s handiwork is worth admiring as a textbook demonstration of how a marginalized independent can wreak havoc on the ruling government, practically speaking the vote merely illustrated how politically incendiary the topic remains.

A quick vocabulary primer: Although the words “coalition” and “unified” have similar definitions, their nuanced meanings are significantly different.

“Coalition” comes from a Latin word meaning “to grow together.” Conversely, “unified” comes from a Latin word meaning, “to make one.” The term “coalition,” as opposed to “unified,” implies a lesser degree of cohesion, lends itself to modifiers such as “uneasy” or “loose,” and leaves open the possibility of a natural separation.

That’s relevant to the Cayman Islands because currently we have a coalition government, not a unified one.

Friday’s split vote demonstrated that reality, as the Progressives-led government fractured into yeas, nays and not presents. Focusing on the “not presents,” the five truants need to explain unequivocally to the country why they missed this roll call vote and, even more importantly, how they would have voted on the motion — and why.

As we’ve said before, the Compass supports Premier McLaughlin’s recent change of course on “one man, one vote.” In this instance maintaining the status quo will do far less harm than overhauling our elections based largely on opportunistic campaign statements.

However, we suspect many of our readers (including many of the Premier’s supporters) might not be so patient or sympathetic.

It will be in the best interest of everyone — Premier McLaughlin, the Progressives and Cayman — for the government to embark upon an in-depth examination of “one man, one vote,” single-member districts and related topics.

The length of any further delay may well determine how voters perceive Premier McLaughlin’s latest move: as a thoughtful pause, or as a 180-degree renunciation of his recent campaign pledge.