The Cayman Islands (Constitution) (Amendment) Order 1987

Replacement of section 18 of Constitution.

2.  Section 18 of the Constitution of the Cayman Islands shall be replaced by the following—

“Qualifications for elected membership.

18.— (1) Subject to the provisions of the next following section, a person shall be qualified to be elected as a member of the Assembly if, and shall not be qualified to be so elected unless—

(a) he possesses Caymanian status; and

(b) he has attained the age of twenty-one years; and

(c) he is, at the date of his nomination for election, domiciled and resident in the Islands; and

(d) he is a qualified citizen; and either

(e) he was born in the Islands, or was born outside the Islands in the circumstances mentioned in subsection (2)(b) of this section, has resided in the Islands for a period of not less than seven years immediately preceding the date of his nomination for election and, subject to subsections (3) and (4) of this section, the number of days on which he was absent from the Islands in that period does not exceed four hundred; or

(f) he was born outside the Islands, has resided in the Islands for a period or periods amounting to not less than fifteen years out of the twenty years immediately preceding the date of his nomination for election, and in the seven years immediately preceding the date of his nomination for election the number of days on which he was absent from the Islands does not exceed four hundred.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(d) of this section, a qualified citizen is a British Dependent Territories citizen by virtue of a connection with the Islands, who either—

(a) at the date of his nomination for election possesses no other citizenship and is pursuing no claim to any other citizenship for which he may be eligible; or

(b) was born outside the Islands, has or had at least one parent or grandparent who was born in the Islands and possesses Caymanian status (or if deceased would if alive have possessed Caymanian status at the date of nomination for election), and who at the date of his nomination for election possesses no other citizenship save for any right he may have to some other citizenship by virtue of his birth outside the Islands.

(3) In ascertaining whether a person has been absent from the Islands for the purposes of subsection (1)(e) of this section any period of absence by reason of the following shall be disregarded—

(a) the performance of duty on behalf of the Government of the Islands;

(b) attendance as a pupil at any educational establishment;

(c) attendance as a patient at any hospital, clinic or other medical institution;

(d) employment as a seaman aboard an ocean-going vessel; or

(e) employment as a crew member on any aircraft.

(4) In the case of a person referred to in subsection (1)(e) of this section, the requirement that the number of days on which he was absent from the Islands in the period of seven years immediately preceding the date of his nomination for election does not exceed four hundred shall not apply if that person was, on the day immediately preceding the appointed day, qualified to be elected as a member of the Assembly.”.