CAYMAN ISLANDS-ELECTIONS-Court rules in favour of Education Minister

GEORGETOWN, Cayman Islands, CMC - Chief Justice Anthony Smellie has ruled that Education and Employment Minister Tara Rivers can keep her West Bay seat in the Parliament after the husband of an election rival had filed a petition challenging her nomination. “The Hon. Chief Justice’s ruling reaffirms that I was duly and rightfully elected and now we can all move forward as a country. It’s time to talk about meaningful employment and liveable wages, an education system that works and gender equality for all our people. That is what I have been focusing on since being elected to this honourable office and I will continue to serve the people of these islands to the best of my ability,” Rivers said in a message posted on her Facebook page. Gordon Hewitt had asked the court to have the minister removed as the second elected member of West Bay on the grounds that she is the holder of a United States passport and has not lived in the Cayman Islands for seven consecutive years before the election held in May.