Outgoing Opposition Leader Kurt
Tibbetts assured an audience of about 150 people last Thursday that he was “not
going home” and would still be very much involved in his role as a Member of the
Legislative Assembly and anything that is required of him by the new
leadership.
At a political meeting at the
Seafarer’s Hall, Mr. Tibbetts explained in more detail his decision to step
down as leader of the People’s Progressive Movement. He also announced that the
PPM’s campaign for the next election would begin early next year.
Political campaigning in the Cayman
Islands has traditionally taken place in the months running up to an election.
Last Tuesday, 9 November, in a
televised press conference, Mr. Tibbetts shocked the Cayman Islands with the
news of his decision,
On Thursday evening, he expanded on
his views, lamenting the party’s setbacks and lauding its victories, explaining
that after the infamous “coup” in 2001, the PPM was formed because of the
difficulties in how politics were being run in the Cayman Islands, and also so
people could be sure who they were going to support. He said though the party
was not successful in the last election, “In this thing called politics no one
wins every time; but whoever wins, it is important that the country wins and
what we do know for sure is that the country did not win last time.”
The PPM founder said when the last
election came to a close, he got together with his colleagues, those who won
and those who did not, and told them that the party would be better suited with
new leadership. He said it was not the right time to step down at that
juncture, however, because it would “have hurt the party rather than giving it
strength.” He said that his not being the leader calls for the leadership to
change very soon in order to give the new leadership the time to build a road
map for a team that would win the next election.
“They will need about two years,”
he said.
An extraordinary party conference
is planned for 12 February, 2011, at the Mary Miller Hall, at which time a new
PPM leader, deputy leader and general secretary will be chosen. The new
constitution calls for a deputy leader of the opposition.
Mr. Tibbetts said he still has much
to offer and there are many ways he can assist, other than being the leader,
ad
PPM Party members gathered on 11
NOV to discuss choosing a new leader.
ding that he wanted to make it clear that no one had forced him out.
“This is not about one person, and
once we accept that, it is time to stop the laziness of the last year and a
half. If there is any hope for Cayman, there needs to be a change of
government,” exclaimed Mr. Tibbetts.
He reminded all at the meeting that
in order to win the next election, their full support would be needed to
achieve the objective of fielding 18 seats.
“We need to get the vast majority
of those seats, and one thing is for sure, the United Democratic Party has
never seen campaigning like they will see between now and the next election,”
he said.
He said the 60 day period to elect
new leaders would give people time to think and listen before making their
decision at the conference in February.
Nominations for the positions will
come from constituency branches and the Young Progressives, the youth branch of
the PPM and have to be in order 14 days before the extraordinary conference.
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