$1.2million spent on 2021 Candidates Campaign

The public are now able to see how much money candidates raised to fund their 2021 election campaign and how much each candidate spent campaigning, as the Elections Office published candidates’ expenses and revenue last Saturday.

Twelve Alliance members - Joey Hew, David Wight, Frank Cornwall, Barbara Conolly, Moses Kirkconnell, Julianna O’Connor Connolly, Roy McTaggart, Alden McLaughlin, Austin Harris, Alva Suckoo, Vincent Frederick and Dwayne Seymour – had a combined revenue of $201,060.00 to help fund their election campaigns, while spending more than twice that amount, at $479,781.16 over the 45 day election period, roughly averaging just under $40,000 spent per candidate.

For the election period, which started on 1st March 2021 and ended on 14th April 2021, the returns submitted by the 50 candidates and parties detailed that their combined expenditures totaled $1,228,657.09, with third-party revenues of $548,016.27 having been generated. Expenditures per candidate reported during the period ranged from a low of $2,940 to a high of $39,981.76. The latter figure represented the average spending across the 12 members of the Alliance. Most candidates spent more than they received in revenue, with just Independent candidate André Ebanks managing to receive more revenue, at $47,103.70, when compared to his expenditure at $34,130.61. Some candidates, namely Alric Lindsay, Heather Bodden, and Osbourne Bodden, all spent exactly the same amount as the received in revenue. Some candidates - Capt. Eugene Ebanks, Renard Johann Moxam, Ellio Solomon, Kenneth Bryan, Maxine Moore, Sabrina Turner, Jeanna Williams, Raul Gonzalez, Wayne Panton, Jay Ebanks, Justin Ebanks and McLeary Frederick - did not receive any revenue to campaign.

Declarations of third-party revenue, inclusive of monetary contributions and contributions of goods and services, ranged from $0 to $47,103.70 during the reporting period.

Three independent candidates Richard Bernard, Frank McField, and Elvis McKeever, have yet to file their returns with the Elections Office.

Thanking the 2021 General Election candidates and parties for submitting their returns, Elections Supervisor Wesley Howell noted that the current legislation had no provisions for penalties for non-submission of returns from candidates who are not sitting members of the Cayman Islands Parliament.

“Nonetheless, I urge the remaining three 2021 candidates to file their returns of revenue and expenditure,” he said.

He added that he looked forward to working with the Cabinet and Parliament to progress the modernisation of elections legislation, particularly in the area of Election Campaign finance reporting.

In keeping with the Elections Act, the candidate expense returns are available for inspection at the Elections Office, Bay Town Office Suites, 68 West Bay Road in George Town between 9 am to 4 pm on weekdays.