A move toward “one man, one vote” single-member constituencies in the Cayman Islands 2017 general election would be preferable to a hybrid at-large balloting system proposed by the government, Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush said Tuesday.
Mr. Bush, responding to a Caymanian Compass editorial that questioned the absence of several leading members of the Legislative Assembly during a roll call vote on a “one man”-related motion recently, said he would likely have voted against that motion if he had been present. Mr. Bush said family circumstances required him to leave the island around 1 p.m. Feb. 28, hours before House members voted on the private members motion.
The vote on the motion filed by East End MLA Arden McLean, which sought implementation of single-member voting districts within three months, ended in a 6-6 draw, forcing Speaker of the House Juliana O’Connor-Connolly to break the tie. She voted “no” to defeat Mr. McLean’s motion.
Four government ministers were also absent when the vote was taken. The Caymanian Compass has asked those ministers, as it asked Mr. Bush, to state their position on the “one man, one vote” single-member constituencies motion, had they been present.
Mr. Bush, a longtime opponent of single-member voting districts, said Tuesday that any voting arrangement, including the creation of 18 or 19 single-member districts, would be better than moving to at-large voting as the Progressives-led government has now put forward.
“I do not support what they’re doing,” Mr. Bush said. “I’m not going to support that. I would choose one man, [one vote] single-member constituencies over that.”
Mr. Bush’s former United Democratic Party government campaigned heavily against a 2012 political movement to enact a single member constituent district voting system in the Cayman Islands and was accused of staging a referendum on the issue that was set up to fail.
What government has proposed with regard to the voting system in the next general election, if it has proposed anything at all, isn’t clear. During the Legislative Assembly debate on Mr. McLean’s motion, Premier Alden McLaughlin said government could consider creating a system of 14 or 15 single-member voting districts, with an additional four or five at-large seats.
At-large members would be elected by every registered voter in the Cayman Islands, rather than those from just one district or constituency. Now, there are six Cayman Islands voting districts represented by a different number of MLAs, based on their population. George Town, the largest district, gets six MLAs, so electors who live there get six votes. The smallest districts of East End and North Side get one MLA each, so voters in those districts get just one vote.
Mr. Bush said a move to 18 or 19 single-member constituencies would mean that every person in the smaller districts would get just one vote. He has never supported that system and said Tuesday he still doesn’t.
“I have to look at what the people say, and what the people want. But, why change [the current multimember voting system]? Is it doing any harm? No, it’s not doing any harm,” the opposition leader said.
However, Mr. Bush said the move to single-member voting districts was at least considered by the 2010 Electoral Boundary Commission and included in its recommendations to Cabinet. The earlier district map was based on 15,000 voters in the Cayman Islands and would likely have to be redrawn anyway if single-member voting districts were implemented.
There is no electoral boundary work for a hybrid system that includes 14 or 15 single-member districts with four or five at-large constituencies, Mr. Bush said.
“You’re changing to something completely different,” he said.
Mr. Bush maintains that a true national position on single-member constituencies has not been established. A referendum in July 2012 turned up 5,631 “yes” votes in favor of “one man, one vote” single-member constituencies and 3,001 votes against. The referendum ultimately failed to force government’s hand because it did not receive the 50 percent-plus-one total of all registered voters in Cayman that was required.
The opposition leader has said that 5,600 voters now totals less than one-third of all registered voter in the Cayman Islands. He has questioned whether anyone who stayed away from the polls in July would have supported “one man, one vote.”
“I still don’t know whether the public will support [it],” he said. “But if the people voted for it, I would put it in.”
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Yes but an 18 or 19 single member district would be quite expensive and an added burden on the public purse as payroll increased for the MLA’s.
Florence I do agree with your comments and wondering can we take than on now. Anyway what I believe is that lots of meetings need to be held to educate the people the good and bad of the one man one vote. Many do not have the slightest idea what it is about and will vote anywhere still not knowing. I do hope serious consideration will be to the benefit of the Island and its people, not just a purpose of position for some politician.