Although they all support “one man, one vote” in one form or another, three Progressives government ministers said Tuesday they would have voted “no” on a motion to implement single-member voting districts within three months.
However, Ministers Marco Archer, Wayne Panton and Osbourne Bodden were all absent from the Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly chamber when the Feb. 28 vote on East End MLA Arden McLean’s private members motion was taken. Mr. Bodden was out of town on a family visit, while the other two ministers acknowledged being duped by what Minister Panton described as legislative “subterfuge.”
Essentially, Mr. McLean called the vote when he noticed a number of government ministers were out of the chamber. The vote ended in a draw with six “ayes” and six “no’s,” requiring Speaker of the House Juliana O’Connor-Connolly to break the tie and defeat the motion.
A fourth government minister who was absent during the roll call vote, Tara Rivers, did not respond by press time to Caymanian Compass questions regarding how she would have voted. Ms. Rivers said during debate on the motion that she supported the principle of equality of voting but wasn’t certain whether creating 18 or 19 single-member voting districts would be the best thing for Cayman.
In addition to the government front bench members who were absent, Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush also was absent at the time of the vote. He was off island for a family matter and said Tuesday that he likely would have voted “no.” However, Mr. Bush’s opposition to “one man, one vote” single-member constituencies is well documented, and his vote to deny the motion would have come as no surprise to political observers.
Minister Archer, a founding member of the “one man, one vote” grassroots movement that vaulted him into politics, said this in a statement Tuesday to the Caymanian Compass:
“Whilst I am in favor of the [one man, one vote and single-member constituencies], to implement three-plus years ahead of the next general election could be a distraction for many at this time, myself included. Therefore, I would have voted ‘no’ if I was present at the vote.
“It is worth noting that the vote was called as soon as I left my seat to leave the LA for the reporting session at George Town Primary. I rushed back into the chamber to participate in the vote, but was unable to.”
Legislative Assembly rules require members to be in their seats when a vote is called in order to participate.
Minister Bodden, who has rarely spoken publicly on the issue of “one man, one vote,” told the Caymanian Compass: “I would have voted ‘no’ [on the motion]. [The Progressives-led government members] believe strongly in equality of vote, but we wish to find the most equitable way in which to do this and avoid wide disparity in the number represented by members [of single-member voting districts].
“We will deal in due course, but in all fairness, with all of the challenges facing us, is this really a priority within the first year of office? It’s a great platform for the two independent members [referring to Mr. McLean and North Side MLA Ezzard Miller, who seconded the motion] and they knew in bringing this it would be a distraction to the government. We cannot allow ourselves to be side-tracked at this time.”
Mr. Panton said immediately after the Feb. 28 vote that he had made a rookie political mistake. He said Tuesday that his vote also would have been a “no.”
“I did not support [Mr. McLean’s] motion,” he said. “That position was not because of a lack of support for the principle of voter equality and my desire to see it implemented by electoral reform in Cayman, but I simply did not think it was a priority for the country when the first opportunity to benefit from it was more than three years away.
“Twelve months from now may be an appropriate point in time, but not today,” Mr. Panton said, adding that he would like to see “voter equality” implemented in time for the 2017 election.
Premier Alden McLaughlin has raised doubt as to whether that could happen, given that members of the coalition government bench seemed divided in a number of ways on “one man, one vote” during the legislative debate on the matter. He has floated ideas for a hybrid, single-member districts/at large voting system in which some of the LA members are elected by the entire territory, while others represent small, single-member districts.
Mr. Bush on Tuesday said he would rather support all single-member voting districts than any move toward at-large constituencies.
In any event, Mr. Bush said his preference would be to keep the current multimember voting system that gives more votes to residents of the larger districts.
“Why change it? Is it doing any harm? No, it’s not doing any harm,” Mr. Bush said.
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