Cayman’s three political parties are making a final push to rally the faithful and persuade undecided voters ahead of Wednesday’s general election.
The Cayman Islands National Party and The Caymanian Community Party staged campaign rallies in George Town Monday night. The Progressives will host their own rally Tuesday night in the final hours of the campaign period.
All election banners and posters must come down before the polls open on Wednesday morning.
The sound of blaring horns and competing election anthems pumping through speakers could be heard at Compass Green and A. L. Thompson’s parking lot on Monday evening, as Cayman’s two newest political parties brought their campaigns to a climax.
André Ebanks, the leader of the TCCP, hailed the momentum the party had generated in such a short space of time as he took to the stage to Michael Jackson’s ‘Man in the Mirror’ just after 9:30pm.
Accusing the PPM of putting together a team built on “mutinies and marriages of convenience”, he said it was time to put the “politics of old in the past”.
He said it was time for new ideas, adding, “The largest problem of our era is to narrow the gap between those who are very well off and those who have too little.”
As the rally at Compass Green came to a close, the 10 candidates linked arms on the stage as the DJ queued up their signature tune, Pink’s ‘What About Us’.
Ebanks told the crowd, “It’s your love that is going to drive us over the line. Their time is up; they don’t have the answers.”
While he urged people to “vote straight” for the TCCP, the party would need to get 10 out of 10 candidates into office to claim the government. Ebanks alluded to this, suggesting TCCP supporters who don’t have a candidate in their district should look to those who align with their principles. He said if a coalition is needed, the TCCP will “find the most talented people who most fit with us to take this country forward”.
Scott: ‘We will take our country back’
A short walk away at A. L. Thompson’s parking lot, a rival party and a possible coalition partner was hosting its own election finale.
Dan Scott brought the CINP rally to a close, saying Caymanians had been treated as “second-class citizens” and urging voters not to give the PPM and its partners four more years. Scott has consistently cast the current independent coalition as a PPM administration because three of its members are now running with that party.
Speaking to a large crowd, with more watching from their cars, he said the party was on the brink of history.
Hitting the major themes of his campaign, he urged people to “draw a line in the sand” and swap “broken promises” for “bold, honest leadership”.
He said, “CINP has the candidates, CINP has the plan, CINP has the courage to do what others have been too weak to do for decades.”
Addressing the crowd, many of them clad in the party’s purple shirts, he said, “You the builders, you the teachers, you the mothers, the fathers and the young Caymanians fighting for your future, you are the power. You are the future, and together, we will take our country back.
“On April 30, the noise will end, the games will end, the era of broken promises will end, and a new day will begin — a day led by Caymanians, for Caymanians, in the name of Caymanians.”
PPM finale Tuesday night
The PPM will host their final rally Tuesday night at Compass Green from 7pm.
The party has previously dismissed claims that it can be linked to the record of the current independent coalition, urging people to judge it on its own performance in government.
Leader Joey Hew has claimed his party is the only group with the experience and the numbers to form a government.
At an earlier rally, he defended the party’s track record, saying it was rooted in “service, integrity and the power of the people of the Cayman Islands”.
He added, “Whether in government or opposition, we have remained steadfast.”
Hew said, “As a party, we deliver. We create opportunities. We understand our success as a nation did not come easily.
“It came through the hard work of generations before us, but we cannot rest on past achievements to secure our future. We must roll up our sleeves and work to ensure that Cayman continues to flourish in years to come.”