How Nomination Day played out: Interviews and videos from Monday
The 2021 election campaign is officially under way with 50 candidates confirming their intention to run on a hectic Nomination Day.
The field is dominated by independents, with the Progressives, who led the country in a coalition for the past four years, fielding just eight candidates in the 19 districts across the islands.
The party has not put forward any candidates in Bodden Town, East End, North Side or West Bay and will not oppose any of its coalition partners.
Ezzard Miller’s People’s Party is the only other formally registered political party involved in the election, though the veteran North Side legislator is its only candidate.
A handful of ‘teams’ of independents are also running on joint platforms, while numerous potential partnerships are expected to emerge between now and election day on 14 April.
The total number of candidates is down slightly compared with the 63 hopefuls who fought it out in 2017. No candidates are running unopposed, with at least two people being nominated in every district.
Some of the key races to watch include:
- Cruise port referendum campaigner Johann Moxam takes on Commerce Minister Joey Hew in George Town North.
- The former head of Cayman’s London office Andre Ebanks is running against ex-Digicel boss Raul Nicholson-Coe for the seat vacated by Tara Rivers in West Bay South.
- Former environment minister Wayne Panton is trying to win back the Newlands seat he lost narrowly to Alva Suckoo in 2017, in a race that also involves Roydell Carter and Raul Gonzales.
- Malcolm Eden faces Heather Bodden and Jeanna Williams as he seeks to take the Savannah seat previously held by his father, Anthony Eden, who has retired from frontline politics.
- Speaker McKeeva Bush faces a challenge in his West Bay West stronghold from Mario Ebanks.
- Current Health Minister Dwayne Seymour faces former health minister, Osbourne Bodden, in Bodden Town East.
Premier confident of ‘alliance’ victory
Current Premier Alden McLaughlin is expected to cede the leadership of the Progressives to Finance Minister Roy McTaggart in the coming weeks but will run in his Red Bay constituency against lawyer Sammy Jackson.
Speaking as he signed his nomination papers at the Seafarers Hall, McLaughlin said the Progressives would be throwing their support behind independent candidates Austin Harris and Dwayne Seymour, who have been part of the Unity government.
Asked if another coalition partner, Speaker of the House and former Premier McKeeva Bush was part of that alliance, he said, “not at all”.
McLaughlin said the Progressives were in talks with several other ‘good candidates’ and hoped to solidify alliances in other districts ahead of the campaign.
McTaggart, who faces four challengers in George Town East, said he was honoured to have been endorsed for the party leadership and expects that status to be confirmed shortly.
“I realise how much will be resting on my shoulders and I believe I am firmly up to the task,” he said.
“I am really looking forward to the challenge and providing the leadership that I think I will be able to bring to the political landscape.”
He added he was happy to have a five-way race in his constituency and welcomed the competition which comes from Emily DeCou, Richard Bernard, Frank McField and Christina Hislop Rowlandson.
CDP colleagues back together
The Cayman Democratic Party (formerly United Democratic Party) no longer exists, but three of its former members – McKeeva Bush, Captain Eugene Ebanks and Rolston Anglin – are running on a joint platform in West Bay.
Bush said all three would be prepared to work with a coalition government.
The former premier, who has been in office for 36 consecutive years, said that despite his conviction and suspended sentence handed down last year – for assault on a female bar manager at Coral Beach – he was confident that he would be successful in the election. He said his political opponents had been using the controversy against him and would continue to do so in the election campaign.
“People have been using it politically, grand-standing, of course – another thing to use against McKeeva Bush.” He said people had only heard “one side of the story”, and added, “I am ready to take on whatever comes up.”
McLean: Coalition has failed
Opposition leader Arden McLean released a campaign video to coincide with Nomination Day. He said it would be the “biggest mistake this country has ever made” to re-elect the current coalition. Citing the Bush controversy, he said they had ducked the hard decisions and failed to hold the speaker accountable for his actions, forcing early elections to avoid the situation.
McLean has previously indicated that the members of the official opposition plan to run collectively.
He told the Compass, “This unity government has failed you all, all of you. This whole country. It has failed. We tend to forget the woes of the three years prior to COVID.”
Panton seeks return to the front lines
Meanwhile, former Progressives ministers Wayne Panton and Osbourne Bodden are running as a team along with Heather Bodden.
Panton told the Compass he was aiming to “restore respect and decency” to Cayman’s political scene.
The trio will all compete for seats under the joint slogan, Community Creates Country.
Health Minister Dwayne Seymour, who is being challenged by Bodden, confirmed he would be running in partnership with the government.
He said the coalition had protected “lives over money” during the COVID pandemic and now was not the time to change leadership or strategy.
Miller looking to be premier
Ezzard Miller, who is in the early stages of establishing a new political party – the People’s Party – said he was confident of retaining his North Side seat. He is the only candidate for his fledgling party but indicated he was seeking to be premier or to take a ministerial seat if enough candidates who share his ideals are elected.
“I am looking to go into the government either as premier or as a minister but it depends on what the coalition is. If it represents the things me and the People’s Party stand for I would be happy to join up.”
He added that he would not join a similar alliance to the current coalition.
Moxam, who was one of the leaders of the campaign for a referendum on the George Town cruise port, described himself as the underdog in his race against minister Joey Hew.
He said he was competing to represent the people that had been “left behind” by the current administration.
“I think that people who have sat on the sidelines and watched the country and how it has been governed have reached the point where it is time to engage and try to make a difference inside or on the front lines,” he told the Compass.
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