What crimes bar people from running for office?
What kind of crimes and how long one will have to be in jail for different crimes to stop one from running for MLA in the elections? I heard one can go to jail for some kind of crime and still run for elections and other crimes one cannot run for election.
The relevant section of the Cayman Islands Constitution is section 62e, which says that people are disqualified from running for office if they have been sentenced to a jail time of more than twelve months for any crime in any country, even if that sentence was suspended.
People are also disqualified if they have been convicted in any country for “an offence involving dishonesty”.
This is what it says: “No person shall be qualified to be elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly who… is serving or has served a sentence of imprisonment (by whatever name called) exceeding twelve months imposed on him or her by a court in any country or substituted by competent authority for some other sentence imposed on him or her by such a court, or is under such a sentence of imprisonment the execution of which has been suspended, or has been convicted by any court in any country of an offence involving dishonesty.”
So, there you have it. You can be convicted of any offence that is not a dishonesty offence and, if the sentence is less than a year in jail, you are free to stand as a candidate and, if elected, represent your constituency in the Legislative Assembly.
For information on removing an MLA from office, you can read this previous column.
The Constitution can be found on the CNS Library
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Why doesn’t these laws apply to mark road? That site is making a mockery of journalism.
So if one goes to jail for less than a year for selling Drugs they can run for election, but if they steal a small amount and serve less than a year in jail, then they can”t run, tell me which is worst, selling Drugs ruin young people
Not crack dealing or wife beating, apparently.
12:07 pm, what a shame, only in Cayman that can happen. We need to march to change that, but if the Govt. Was any good they would have changed it without a march Agreed ?
Seems like all crimes are a crime of dishonesty…. Especially if you plead not guilty, No?