The territory’s general elections were held on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, and there were jubilant scenes at the party headquarters as the final results came in around 11:00 pm on Wednesday.

With all seven sitting party members as well as alliance partner Dwayne S. Seymour holding their seats, McTaggart will have the best shot of forming a government, Cayman Compass posited.

‘Overjoyed’

He said he was “overjoyed” with the result and confident of forming a broad coalition.

“All of the incumbent Progressives candidates were elected quite resoundingly,” Mr Taggart said.

“The country were clearly happy with the Progressives and the government we have led.”

He acknowledged there had been some tension throughout the night with some ‘seismic shocks’ elsewhere in Grand Cayman.

Veteran legislators Ezzard Miller and Arden McLean were toppled in North Side and East End, with Johany Ebanks and Isaac Rankine, respectively, taking their seats in the new parliament.

Rankine has already indicated he would be willing to join the next government and several other independents appeared open to the prospect.

W. McKeeva Bush narrowly retains seat

W. McKeeva Bush’s conviction for assaulting a woman appears to have dented his popularity in West Bay. He narrowly retained his seat admitting it was a “cliffhanger” after his 27-vote win over Mario Ebanks.

His long-time running mate, Captain Eugene Ebanks, was soundly beaten, however, with Katherine Ebanks-Wilks taking the West Bay Central seat by 539 to 392 votes.

Coalition Gov’t

McTaggart said he would be reaching out to some of the independents as he seeks to form a government.

“We are starting with a position of strength,” he said, targeting a coalition of 12-14 seats.

André Ebanks, Rankine, Heather Bodden and Johany Ebanks – all of whom were successful at the polls – have been previously named as possible partners for the Progressives.

According to Cayman Compass, there remains an outside possibility of a rival independent group seeking to form a coalition without the Progressives.