Governor commends voters on election involvement
(CNS): The governor has applauded the Cayman people for their participation in the democratic process during the General Election last month. Speaking at the swearing in ceremony last week, he offered his thanks to everyone involved in the election and described it as disciplined and dignified. He took a lot of comfort, he said, from the findings of the observer mission that had been invited to Cayman for the first time to monitor an election, which found that the national ballot met international standards. Duncan Taylor said he was looking forward to working with the new government for the last few months that he remains in the Cayman Islands before he moves to Mexico.
With 18 members and only 18,300 voters, this has led to a strong sense of engagement in the election process as all voters and MLAs have strong ties and much closer relationships with each other than is common in larger jurisdictions, Taylor said, as he congratulated everyone for what was, by and large, a well conducted dignified campaign.
Taylor said that an election is an exciting and dynamic moment as he congratulated the new government.
“I know that I can say with confidence that my successor, when they come out here, can look forward to a three or four year appointment here in the Cayman Islands and working constructively and cooperatively with the members of the Legislative Assembly and the government in the spirit of partnership set out in the whitepaper published by the UK government last year,” he said.
Having had a tumultuous relationship with the former premier, all eyes of the gathered audience were on the moment when Taylor and McKeeva Bush came face to face at the swearing in ceremony. However, following a brief handshake and Bush’s decision to use his own pen rather than the one offered by the governor, there was little evidence of the major friction between the two men as Bush was sworn in as leader of the opposition.
Category: Politics
This article irks me for a number of reasons.
Firstly, are we supposed to feel happy or proud that some unelected "governor" was impressed by our elections?
Personally, I could not give less of a rat's ass about his opinion on our democracy.
Furthermore, I find it rather condescending the implication that his stamp of approval should be heralded as some mark of achievement on our part.
This is Cayman, we know ourselves – we don't need the likes of any governor or UK official to sign off on our morals and values. Clearly they have a constitutonal role and right to do so – however, we need to take these things with a huge grain of salt. It is not much more than mere pomp and ceremony.
We have a voter turnout at a level that puts the UK and USA to shame. The (UK-sanctioned) international observer team basically gave us the highest ranking possible for a national election; 9/10. (I cannot imagine a 10/10 nor have I ever heard of one.)
Furthermore, the head of the observer team commended us on many aspects of our elections and democracy – namely the involvement of our women in the process. He even went as far to say that he would be taking some of the lessons learned here back to his headquarters and home country with an aim to implement the same.
Lastly, despite all of the above, the legacy and conclusion of the story appears to focus on the supposed "bad blood" between Taylor and Bush.
Who da eff cares?!
Our national elections … our national DEMOCRACY is greater than any two individuals!
On May 22, 2013 Caymanians came out in droves and conducted themselves with the integrity and decorum that we all know binds this community at its deepest levels.
Had it been anything but we all know it would have been all over the international media like hot-cakes!
It is very unfortunate that those with a "responsibility" to report on and oversee the process could not bring themselves to give us our well deserved props.
(Wake up, Cayman.)
– Whodatis
Well don't know about all that, but drove by a certain political party HQ and saw a number of cars outside, over 6 loyal Volunteers of a certain persuasion knocking down the door but nobodeeee home, either that or i hear you knocking but u can't come in! Well i guess it aint corruption if you were promised or were "pose" to get after the election.Oh! but some people sooo fool eh?? For those poor fools knocking you cant hear the election is over or wha. Well you know what they say a promise is a comfort to a fool!
Wouldn't it be awesome if the new governor was a woman? The so-called "Father of the House" might have a fit…!
Same old pig-headed Bush. When will he ever change his ways?
The voters have spoken loud and clear, to stamp out corruption, now we can turn the page.