Cooper says MICAL seat may see a change of boundary

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

DEPUTY Prime Minister Chester Cooper yesterday revealed the MICAL constituency could be reconfigured as the Constituencies Commission reviews electoral boundaries.

“MICAL,” he noted, “is five islands. We’ve been called upon to look at scenarios like that one, to see whether there is the need to make some adjustments.”

Pressed directly on whether MICAL could become more than one constituency, he replied: “All things are possible. We’re looking at geographic makeup, but most importantly, we’re looking at the demographic makeup and the population sizes. It’s too soon for me to make specific comments on what the changes might be. The chair of the boundaries commission is the Speaker of the House. We have a committee represented by the opposition, Mr Cartwright, as well as a justice. It would be premature for me to talk about specifics of this report. Suffice to say, it’s coming soon.”

According to the 2022 census, the MICAL constituency — covering Mayaguana, Inagua, Crooked Island, Acklins, and Long Cay — had a population of just over 2,000 residents, significantly fewer than many other constituencies in the country.

However, it is one of the country’s most geographically sprawling seats; its islands are not directly

connected by regular transport links.

Mr Cooper said the Commission has made “significant progress” analysing boundaries with a focus on ensuring a fairer distribution of voters across constituencies. Officials have repeatedly highlighted imbalances between larger constituencies in the west, Killarney and Golden Isles.

“We knew that Killarney and the Golden Isles and some of the constituencies in the west were a lot larger than some of the constituencies in the inner city,” Mr Cooper said.

He added that the timing of the report is intended to coincide with the voter registration exercise now underway. “As the registration process advances, we’re going to look to see whether there needs to be some adjustment,” he said. “So Prime Minister Davis, in his wisdom, thought that the later we present the report, the more accurate information we will have. Suffice to say, the report is coming soon.”

Comments

hrysippus says...

Wow, what a coincidence. This just happens to be the same constituency that the Tribune ownwe happens to be trying to get elected to.....

Posted 3 October 2025, 8:29 p.m. Suggest removal

ExposedU2C says...

You haven't even begun to connect all the dots. LOL

Posted 4 October 2025, 1:40 p.m. Suggest removal

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