Turks and Caicos Islands House of Assembly

Turks and Caicos Islands
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the Turks and Caicos Islands
Sovereign Elizabeth II Governor Ric Todd Premier Rufus Ewing House of Assembly Speaker Robert Hall Political parties Elections: 2003, 2007, 2012
Other countries Atlas Politics portal

The House of Assembly of the Turks and Caicos Islands is the legislature of that British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands. The name of the house was changed from the Legislative Council of the Turks and Caicos Islands to its present name following the implementation of the new constitution on 9 August 2006.

In August 2009, the United Kingdom suspended the Turks and Caicos' self-government after allegations of ministerial corruption. The prerogative of the ministerial government and the House of Assembly were vested in the islands' governor until November 2012.

Composition

It has 21 members; formerly, 15 members were elected for a four year term in single-seat constituencies (of which 11 lie in the Caicos Islands and 4 in the Turks Islands), while 3 members sat ex officio, 3 were appointed members and a speaker was chosen from outside the house.

Although the number of elected representatives to the body was not changed during the 2009-12 suspension of self-government, the composition was changed so that ten of the 15 elected representatives are elected to individual districts, while five are now elected at-large.

Consultative Forum (2009-2012)

Following the suspension of self-government in August 2009, the Governor assembled a Consultative Forum for the Turks and Caicos Islands to advise him on legislation relating to the territory. The forum consists of the Chief Executive, the Attorney-General, the Permanent Secretary for Finance and between eleven and fifteen representatives of the community appointed by the Governor. The council can make non-binding recommendations to the Governor about bills that have presented before it and on policies that have been referred to it. The chair of the Consultative Forum was Lillian Missick. The forum disbanded in November 2012.

Election results

Party	Leader	District			At-large			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
People's Democratic Movement	Rufus Ewing	3,164	50.13	4	15,431	50.71	3	7	+5
Progressive National Party	Oswald Skippings	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

 Summary of the 9 February 2007 Legislative Council of the Turks and Caicos Islands election results

Parties	Votes	%	Seats	+/-
Progressive National Party	3,558	59.7	13	+5
People's Democratic Movement	2,401	40.3	2	–3
Total (turnout  %)	5,959	100.0	15	+2

See also

• List of Speakers of the Turks and Caicos Islands House of Assembly