All candidates to be nominated next Wednesday (27) can receive challenges from the Returning Officers as these officers have to ensure all candidates so nominated are qualified to run for office. This is to prevent any questions being raised as to the eligibility of the candidates who make it onto the ballot paper.

Eligibility requirements include both nationality and residency periods.

Deputy supervisor of elections, Orrett Connor, said candidates were talking a lot about transparency and integrity in politics and that should also include nomination day.

“Candidates and their nominators need to make sure they are properly qualified well before the elections,” he warned. The place to start with transparency and integrity is nomination day, he added. “ Cayman election officials are very keen to avoid the need for any candidates to be challenged after the fact.”

He pointed out there were cases like the one in Turks and Caicos, when a by-election was called when the unqualified candidate’s votes were found by the courts to have impacted the result because of the small margin by which a candidate had won.

No candidates for election can have a second passport and Connor admitted it is difficult to prove if this was the case because of the privacy laws, but he hoped candidates would be honest and not put themselves forward if this was the case.

Nomination day is open to the public and candidates must fill in their nominations in specific locations (see below) in each constituency. This is to allow anyone who believes a candidate is unqualified to voice their objections to officials.

Nominations Day: Wednesday 27 March 8am – 3pm

Locations:

George Town: The Smith Road Centre, 150 Smith Road

Bodden Town: The James M. Bodden Civic Centre, 445C Bodden Town Road

West Bay: The John Gray United Church Hall, 26 West Church Street

Cayman Brac and Little Cayman: The District Administration Building Conference Room, 19 Kirkconnell Street

East End: The William Allen McLaughlin Civic Centre, 80 John McLean Drive

North Side: The Craddock Ebanks Civic Centre, 923 North Side Road

Speaking on the subject of election observers being present at our elections the Election Supervisor, Kearney Gomez, said it was not up to the elections office to decide whether they came or not. The invitation, he said, has to be extended by the political arm of government. His team, however, had no objections at all to their presence and would welcome their arrival. He hoped the decision would be made sooner rather than later and in time for nomination day. He confirmed the elections office would be the agency that actually appoints the official observers as they would need all points’ access to the stations and the count.