The Governor of Cayman Islands has officially appointed People’s Progressive Movement (PPM) leader Alden McLaughlin as the territory’s new premier.
Following last Wednesday’s general elections, which gave the opposition PPM nine out of the 18 elected seats in the Legislative Assembly, one short of an absolute majority, McLaughlin made former short-term premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly speaker of the Assembly, giving him the necessary majority that he needed to form a government.
Governor Duncan Taylor announced on Tuesday that O’Connor-Connolly had agreed to join the PPM, thus negating a potential constitutional objection as to whether the PPM commanded a clear parliamentary majority.
“I was today informed that the Hon. Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, MLA, JP has joined the People’s Progressive Movement. This, in effect, gives the PPM a majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly,” said Taylor. “I subsequently received a recommendation from all the elected members of that party as to who they would wish to be appointed Premier.”
He said that in line with their recommendation, and under Section 49(2) of the Constitution, he had appointed McLaughlin as premier of the Cayman Islands.
“I would like to congratulate the new premier on his appointment,” the governor added.
McLaughlin was scheduled to hold a press conference later on Tuesday to reveal the make-up of his Cabinet.
In the meantime, his parliamentary position was further strengthened on Tuesday with the acceptance of a Cabinet post by independent member Tara Rivers, who broke the stranglehold enjoyed by former premier McKeeva Bush on his district of West Bay.
The political status quo in the Cayman Islands was shaken up at the end of last year with the arrest of then premier Bush on suspicion of fraud and corruption. He has since been formally charged with two counts of misconduct in public office, four counts of breach of trust by a member of the Legislative Assembly, and five counts of theft.
One week after his arrest on December 11, 2012, Bush was ousted from office when Cayman Islands lawmakers passed a vote of no confidence in him, which led to a split of the UDP and a subsequent minority government in the territory.
Just one member of the breakaway faction of the UDP that voted against Bush in the vote of no-confidence, O’Connor Connolly, was able to retain her seat in last week’s election.
