2012 Turks and Caicos Islands general election

General elections were held in Turks and Caicos Islands on 9 November 2012.[1] The PNP won the election, winning eight seats with the PDM winning seven.[2] The PNP won most of its seats by narrow margins over the PDM, while the PDM won its seats by wide margins over the PNP, with the result that despite winning fewer seats and thereby losing the election, the PDM garnered more overall votes nationwide.

Background

In 2009 the British government had imposed direct rule over the islands after an inquiry discovered evidence of corruption and incompetence in the islands' government.[3] The islands' government was suspended for two years and the British-appointed governor given executive power over the territory.[3]

On 12 June 2012 British Foreign Secretary William Hague announced that fresh elections would be held in November 2012, stating that there had been "significant progress with an ambitious reform programme" and that there had been "sufficient progress, on the milestones and on putting in place robust financial controls"[1]

A new constitution came into force on 15 October 2012. The terms of the election are specified in the constitution.[4]

Electoral system

Following the 2007 elections, the number of single-member constituencies was reduced from 15 to 10.[5] However, an additional five members were elected at-large at the national level,[5] with voters able to vote for up to five at-large candidates.[6] According to a report on 12 October, there were 6,896 verified electors in the Electors Register, with an additional 349 to be published in a supplementary register later.[7]

Candidates

On Nomination Day, 25 October, a total of thirty-seven candidates were officially nominated. Among them were fifteen each from the Progressive National Party (PNP) and the People's Democratic Movement (PDM), five from the newly formed People's Progressive Party (PPP), and two independents.[8]

The below list of candidates comes from the Turks and Caicos Islands Elections Office.[9] Election results were confirmed on November 9, 2012 for local voting districts,[10] and on November 12, 2012 for the at-large seats.[11]

Results

Party	Leader	District			At-large			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
People's Democratic Movement	Oswald Skippings	3,164	50.13	4	15,431	50.71	3	7	+5
Progressive National Party	Rufus Ewing	2,833	44.87	6	14,764	48.52	2	8	–5
People's Progressive Party	Harold Charles	310	4.91	0	–	–	–	0	New
Independents		4	0.06	0	233	0.77	0	0	0
Invalid/blank votes		82	–		–	–	–	–	–
Total		6,393	100	10	30,428	100	5	15	0
Source: TCI News, TCI News

By constituency

Constituency	Candidate	Party	Votes
1. Grand Turk North	George Alexander Lightbourne	PNP	353
	Derek Anthonio Rolle	PDM	336
2. Grand Turk South	Edwin Astwood	PDM	524
	Rex Elton Swann	PNP	292
3. South Caicos	Norman Benjamin Saunders	PNP	219
	Edith Andrea Cox	PDM	132
4. Middle and North Caicos	Ricardo Don Hue Gardiner	PNP	261
	Ashwood Leon Forbes	PDM	250
5. Leeward	Akierra M. Missick	PNP	337
	Ezra Ringo Tyrone Taylor	PDM	305
	Bennett Williams	Independent	4
6. The Bight	Porsha Monique Stubbs Smith	PNP	335
	Sonny Alexander Forbes	PDM	294
	Dorell Monique Pratt Delancy	PPP	36
7. Cheshire Hall and Richmond Hill (results voided in February 2013)	Amanda A. Misick	PNP	394
	Isaac Oral Selver	PDM	364
	Edward E. Smith	PPP	58
8. Blue Hills	Goldray McMillin Ewing	PDM	347
	Adrian Carlyle Williams	PNP	232
	Wendal D. Wilson	PPP	84
9. Five Cays	Sean Rickard Astwood	PDM	347
	Thomas I.N. Ewing	PNP	253
	Harold Charles	PPP	103
10. Wheeland	Vaden Delroy Williams	PDM	265
	Gregory O'Neal Lightbourne	PNP	157
	Zhavargo J. Jolly	PPP	29
All Island District 5 elected at-large
	Sharlene Linette Cartwright Robinson	PDM	3,427
	Rufus Washington Ewing	PNP	3,252
	Derek Taylor	PDM	3,191
	Charles Washington Misick	PNP	3,107
	Josephine Connolly	PDM	3,023
	Carlos W. Simons	PNP	2,899
	Samuel I. Harvey	PDM	2,896
	Oswald O'Neal Skippings	PDM	2,894
	Wayne Newton Garland	PNP	2,806
	Royal Stephenson Robinson	PNP	2,700
	Oswald M. Simons	Independent	233

Subsequent by-election

PDM candidate Isaac Selver filed an election petition in the Supreme Court regarding the results in Electoral District 7, in which he had lost to Amanda Misick of the PNP by 30 votes. Selver's petition stated that PPP candidate Edward Smith was ineligible to stand for election by reason of his dual citizenship and dual allegiance to the United States and the Turks and Caicos Islands, and that the 58 votes that went to Smith had affected the outcome of the election and could have resulted in Selver's victory over Misick. In a December 2012 interview, Smith claimed that he had renounced U.S. citizenship by taking an oath of allegiance to the Queen in order to take up a position in the Turks and Caicos government. However, he had used his United States passport to travel to the United States in July 2012 after that oath. On 7 February 2013, the Supreme Court ruled the election void.[12][13] A by-election will be held in late March.

References

1. Foreign Secretary statement announces elections in the Turks and Caicos Islands Foreign & Commonwealth Office
2. http://suntci.com/pnp-wins-seats-pdm-p435-108.htm%5B%5D
3. UK imposes Turks and Caicos rule BBC News, 14 August 2009
4. Governor Todd Signs Constitution Proclamation Turks & Caicos Weekly News Online
5. Political Party Leaders Pleased With Proposed Boundaries. Turks and Caicos Weekly News
6. Basic election ballot rules released Archived 2016-12-21 at the Wayback Machine TCI News Now, 3 September 2012
7. Tyson, Vivian (2012-10-12). "Election results will be delayed". Turks & Caicos Sun. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
8. Tyson, Vivian (2012-10-25). "37 candidates nominated". Turks & Caicos Sun. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
9. "List of nominated candidates for General Elections 2012" (PDF). Turks & Caicos Islands Elections Office. 2012-10-25. Retrieved 2012-10-30.
10. "Turks and Caicos Islands Election Results" Archived 2012-11-16 at the Wayback Machine. Guide 2 Turks and Caicos, November 13, 2012.
11. "At-Large results stand". Turks and Caicos Weekly News, November 13, 2012.
12. Tyson, Vivian (2012-11-26). "Dr. Smith says he renounced US Citizenship". Turks and Caicos Sun. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
13. "Court declares Provo district election void". TCI News Now. 2013-02-07. Retrieved 2013-02-07.