Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart has called on Premier Wayne Panton to resign by 3pm on Friday or face a vote of no confidence next week in a special sitting of Parliament.
McTaggart’s ultimatum, issued Thursday night, comes in the aftermath of the resignation of government backbencher McKeeva Bush, which has led to the Cayman Islands Parliament being deadlocked.
“I hereby call on Premier Panton to do what is in our country’s and our people’s best interest and resign by 3pm tomorrow,” McTaggart said in a statement Thursday evening.
Should Panton not resign by the deadline given, he said, he would ask the Speaker to summon a special meeting of the House next week “to debate a lack of confidence in the premier and the PACT government”.
“It is our duty as representatives of our people to act to restore stable and effective government to these Islands,” McTaggart added.
In order to call a special meeting of the House, the Opposition leader would need the support of seven Members of Parliament.
“I have spoken before about PACT’s constant infighting being bad for the country, and this most recent resignation today is the final straw,” the George Town East MP said.
McTaggart said Bush’s resignation from the PACT government Thursday means Panton no longer has a viable government.
“The Cayman Islands Parliament is now hung, with the Government and the Opposition now holding an equal number of seats, nine each, comprising three independents and six Progressive members (on the Opposition side). Premier Panton’s PACT Government of Independents has been unstable from the outset. But now it is constitutionally unviable,” he said.
With the 2024/2025 budget presentation due, McTaggart said the premier “does not even have sufficient members in his PACT group to form a quorum to hold a meeting of Parliament”.
A quorum requires 10 elected members, in addition to the Speaker.
McTaggart added that Bush’s resignation from government is the third the country has seen this year, “as PACT continues its slow but inevitable process of disintegration”.
Earlier this year, former Deputy Premier Chris Saunders parted ways with the Panton-led administration and, in September, former Labour Minister Dwayne Seymour resigned from the coalition.
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