At Tuesday’s (8) televised Government Press Briefing, where all the media houses were invited, Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly confirmed that she and her colleagues had every intention of running for re-election in May.

However, she would not give any details of how that would happen but indicated that the Cabinet saw themselves as a solid group. They would view the road to the election one day at a time, she said, and were strategizing among themselves about what do.

She described the new Cabinet as transitional with a holding status. It was in place to ensure that Cayman remained a jurisdiction of choice with an open and transparent government, she added.

The premier said she was hoping to convene the Legislative Assembly (LA) before the end of this week, as there was some legislation that needed to be addressed shortly. She said she would be consulting with the opposition and independent members, as she had promised them, before bringing anything on to the floor of the chamber. With a LA Business Committee arranged for tomorrow, the deputy premier needed to bring some important legislation regarding the financial services sector.

She stated: “As everyone knows, it is no secret that there are only five of us and it takes eight to pass legislation. We have an understanding with the opposition and independent members to consult with them so we can reach consensus on laws and I will be loath to take any new laws to parliament without that consensus before the dissolution of the LA.”

She said she was delighted with the rush of voter registration at the very end of last week and the jump in the electorate to more than 18,000 voters. She described it as, “The audacity of hope and a new breeze blowing. I look forward to the elections and hope to see 100% of voters come out to the polls, not because they would be forced to do so but because they are excited to do so and want to be part of the democratic process.”

A cabinet delegation is slated to be going to London soon to meet the overseas territories minister, Mark Simmonds.

The next cabinet meeting would be held at her own home in Cayman Brac and the ministers would be making a number of scheduled visits to public institutions while they were there.