Declaring “one man-one vote” the most equitable form of elections, top officials have announced their support for a new electoral map, replacing Grand Cayman’s three mega-districts with 14 smaller voting areas.

Offering a reasoned dissent, however, West Bay MLA, top UDP member and Deputy Speaker Cline Glidden argued the new system could prove cumbersome, expensive and unfair.

At Thursday night’s five-way Harquail Theatre debate on a proposed revision of voting districts, speakers described their preference for single-seat districts, minimising potential inequities among the populations of the redrawn areas.

“I have supported single-member constituencies and one man-one vote since 1972,” North Side MLA Ezzard Miller told the audience of 100.

Dick Arch, describing himself as “a concerned citizen”, but also appointed by Premier McKeeva Bush as chairman of the Airports Authority, nonetheless supported the one man-one vote movement, saying, “I support single-member constituencies.”

Leader of the Opposition Alden McLaughlin, drawing a distinction between the single-member districts and one man-one vote, nevertheless lent his weight to the proposal, saying “I support one man-one vote”, allowing for two MLAs from the Sister Islands, the top pair of vote-getters in a “first-past-the-post” system.

Electoral Boundary Commission member Adrianne Webb offered her support, saying, “I suspect one man-one vote and single-member constituencies are more democratic and fairer.”

Mr Glidden, however, played his cards closer, saying he supported “education on the pros and cons “ of the new system, “and then let’s see what the people want”, in a May 2013 referendum.

“I prefer multiple representatives because it means I can go to more than one person,” he said, referring to the ability of a voter in a multi-seat district to approach any one of several legislators. “My personal view is to represent the people.”

The proposal, based on Cayman’s 2009 constitution, which calls for an increase from 15 legislators to 18 legislators, generated appointment of the Electoral Boundary Commission, which published a 2010 study offering three options, chief among them a wholesale redistricting of Grand Cayman into 16 districts, each sending a single representative to the LA, while retaining the two MLAs sent by the Sister Islands.

The redistricting would not affect the already-single seats in North Side and East End, but would subdivide multi-seat West Bay, George Town, and Bodden Town into smaller areas with separate electorates.

A mid-February petition, launched by Mr Miller and East End MLA Arden McLean, seeks to compel government to stage a November referendum on the proposal, launching the new system at May 2013 national elections.

While acknowledging popular sentiment favouring the new system, the ruing UDP has said it will stage the referendum simultaneously with 2013 elections, delaying launch until 2017 polls.

“If it’s such a good idea, why wait for another five years?” both Mr Miller and Mr McLaughlin asked Mr Glidden.

The UDP official said the costs of a November poll would range between $500,000 and $700,000, and feared that new legislators from new districts would each demand their own facilities: post offices, swimming pools, athletic stadia, civic centres and libraries.

The suggestion was dismissed, by both Mr McLaughlin and Mr Arch, saying limited resources and fiscal discipline would eliminate redundant demands.

“Is everyone going to demand a beach? An airport? A cave?” Mr Arch asked.

“We have a hospital in George Town, and there is no demand for others,” Ms Webb pointed out.

Fears that new districts might unequally subdivide voters, enabling election of a legislator with minimal ballots, were also addressed by Ms Webb who acknowledged that while “it’s impossible to achieve an equal number of voters,” the Electoral Boundary Commission’s borders had kept average populations  “within 5% or 10%” of each other.

Mr Miller and Mr McLaughlin agreed.

“There is no prerequisite of absolute equality in the number of voters,” Mr Miller said, “just that everyone has one vote. The map is done. Let’s get on with it.”

“The greatest concern,” Mr McLaughlin said, “is that there be no gerrymandering”, the manipulation of electoral boundaries, “to provide political advantage” to any candidate or party.