A spring 2025 general election now seems likely after four breakaway MPs backed a move to ensure the diminished UPM coalition can continue as a minority government on a temporary basis.
The four MPs, who resigned from government last week, endorsed a plan to allow Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly’s administration to continue on a limited basis.
Echoing comments from Leader of the Opposition Joey Hew on Monday, André Ebanks, who has emerged as the leader of the group, agreed to facilitate the United People’s Movement, which no longer has a majority in Parliament, to continue “for the sake of stability”.
The group also called for a general election to be held as “early as practicable in the new year”.
The statements from Hew and Ebanks suggest Cayman is heading for a spring election, most likely in early April, with the diminished UPM coalition able to continue until then.
However, that remains to be confirmed by Governor Jane Owen and the premier.
The groups in Parliament are now split almost in three with the UPM having seven members, the Progressives six and the four MPs who resigned forming a new group on the opposition benches.
Former Premier Wayne Panton could also line up with that group, though he has made no statements about his allegiances and remains an independent MP. Chris Saunders is also an unaligned independent in the current structure.
Ebanks, the former deputy premier, issued a statement Tuesday confirming he had spoken with Hew and concurred that the best way forward is for the UPM to proceed as a minority government.
That means the collected opposition MPs won’t stand in the way of calling Parliament sessions or bringing non-controversial legislation but will not support any contentious new bills, amendments or spending commitments.
Ebanks said the group would attend Parliament at the next session to allow for the consideration of important legislative amendments to increase financial services licence fees considered crucial to next year’s revenue forecasts.
But the group has made it clear it believes a minority government is only viable for a short space of time.
Ebanks said, “MPs Heather Bodden, Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, Sabrina Turner and I all share the view that the next general election should be as early as practicable in 2025, so that the people of the Cayman Islands can choose to elect a new group of principled leaders committed to good governance, professionalism, innovation and a shared vision to take our three Islands forward to a brighter future for this and future generations of Caymanians.”
Spring election likely
It is understood that the UPM had been considering a June election. It now seems likely that Cayman will go to the polls no later than April 2025.
The possibility of the governor calling an earlier election – something that was on the cards after last week’s resignations – now appears slim.
Hew, in his statement, referenced a collective desire from MPs that new voters not be disenfranchised by a snap poll. Holding the election in April would allow people more time to get on the electoral roll before the end of this year.
“We do not believe that the current minority government, made up of only 7 of the 19 elected members of Parliament, is sustainable for more than the very short term,” he said, in a statement Monday.
“I have had the opportunity to speak to Her Excellency Governor Owen, who has confirmed that she is considering the earliest possible date for the next general elections.
“However, she is concerned, as indeed we are, that the date set will not disenfranchise newly registered voters that are not yet on the official voters’ register.”
With Tropical Storm Rafael dominating time and attention among Cayman’s leaders, there has been no fresh information coming out of government or the Governor’s Office this week.
It is understood that O’Connor-Connolly will reassign the three vacant Cabinet posts among what’s left of her team. A quorum of at least five Cabinet members is needed for the executive to function.
There are currently five Cabinet ministers – the premier herself, Kenneth Bryan, Jay Ebanks, Isaac Rankine and Dwayne Seymour.
MPs McKeeva Bush and Bernie Bush are also still aligned with the government and could theoretically be called into the Cabinet.
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