My fellow Caymanians. We are now four days out following the General Election. It is regrettable that there is still no clear picture as to who will comprise the next Government of our Islands. As of today, Mr. Panton has eight candidates who are now aligned with him and the Progressives Alliance has nine candidates supporting us.

I am deeply concerned by what appears to be a deliberate attempt by those who support Mr. Panton’s PACT to destabilize the process by public protests, threats and abuse of lawfully elected candidates in the recent election. This behaviour is not condoned by The Progressives. It is potentially harmful to the reputation of the Cayman Islands as a major international financial centre and I call on Mr. Panton to join me in asking for calm and an end to this uncharacteristic aggressive behaviour by a loud minority of his supporters.

Following a general election, every elected member is free to decide who to support for government and their preference for Premier. That is the democratic process.

Mr. Panton in his press release yesterday, which rather presumptuously states is coming from the “Office of the Premier Designate”, commented that they will be finalising their cabinet this weekend. Mr. Panton may very well make decisions on a cabinet on paper but to actually form a cabinet he first needs to form a Government and be selected as Premier. At the moment he does not have the support of the majority to form a Government, unless he chooses to include Mr. McKeeva Bush in his Government. If he does do so, then the irony of that choice will be obvious given that his reasons for leaving and campaigning against the Progressives was his not wanting to work with former Speaker Bush. Indeed prior to the election he indicated that he would not run with the Progressives because of Mr. Bush. Time will tell how deeply his convictions run.

In closing I will ask my Caymanian people to let the political process play out. Candidates who are elected, especially those who are new, are getting their first real understanding and taste of the political process. The process will play out and will end as it always does, but I implore my people to ignore the online bullies who attempt to use you for their own purposes. This is not a style of politics that we practice here, and it is not a healthy style of politics to adopt. The Progressives will not adopt it. I hope that the RCIPS will take a dim view of yesterday’s events and ensure that all elected members receive the protection necessary to prevent this harassment and intimidation and frankly to prevent the attempt to hijack the democratic process.

God bless all of our elected members, and May God bless the people of these beloved Islands.