The Cayman Islands are hot and heavy into the national election cycle. Things are done so much better down here than the US. The candidates declare for the election about 60 days before it occurs and they are limited to $50,000 in campaign spending. As a result we don't have to deal with the nonstop political campaigning and commercials for a year and half before the actual election. Instead the campaign is very intense for the month, month and a half before the national election, we have the election and it is over. This year the election is on May 20 and that date is a National Holiday. The government is based on the British system with an elected legislative assembly. There are 15 seats in the legislative assembly with 4 seats from the District of West Bay, four from the District of George Town (which we live in); three from the District of Bodden Town (in which the college is located); two for the sister Islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman; and 1 each for the Districts of East End and Northside.
The majority of the assembly forms the government which consists of a Leader of Government Business (essentially the Prime Minister or Premier) and a cabinet with various Ministers. There are two political parties and lots of independent candidates contesting the 15 legislative assembly seats. The party currently in power is the People's Progressive Movement (PPM) which holds 1o seats in the legislature and is only contesting those ten seats in this election. The minority party is the United Democratic Party (UDP) which holds 5 seats and is contesting 11 seats in this election. The UDP's seat of power is West Bay where they have all four seats and PPM isn't even contesting them in the upcoming election. PPM's power is George Town and Bodden Town where they hold all 7 seats but UDP is running 4 candidates in George Town and two in Bodden Town. There are several independent candidates running in West Bay and George Town as well as some independents in each of the other Districts and the real excitement here is if a few independents can win seats and prevent either party from having a majority in the Assembly.
ICCI graduates and former students are running for both political parties and as Independents so hopefully the next Legislative Assembly will have several ICCI exes in it which should help the college. There isn't any real polling down here so no one knows for sure who is ahead. We are told that typically they have a shift in power every few years and that it is about time for the opposition to take over but who knows. Its hard to see what the real difference is between the two parties (unlike the US where cultural differences define the two major political parties) both are conservative on social issues and if anything the differences are minor on matters of economic policy. Interestingly enough, also being held on May 20 is the referendum on the new Constitution and it certainly looks like it is going to be defeated. Most Caymanians wont say it but the real reason it will be defeated is because the Ministers Association is against it because they fear that the Bill of Rights in it will lead to Gay Marriage. Since we don't have a vote we are just watching from the sidelines and basically cheering for whoever has ties to ICCI regardless of their political affiliation.
