2012 Turks and Caicos Islands general election

2012 Turks and Caicos Islands general election

9 November 2012
15 of the 21 seats in the House of Assembly
First party Second party   Leader Rufus Ewing Oswald Skippings Party PNP PDM Seats won 8 7 Popular vote 2,833 3,164 Percentage 44.89% 50.13%
Premier before election None Office suspended Elected Premier Rufus Ewing PNP

General elections were held in Turks and Caicos Islands on 9 November 2012. The PNP won the election, winning eight seats with the PDM winning seven. 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. The islands' government was suspended for two years and the British-appointed governor given executive power over the territory.

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"

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

Electoral system

Following the 2007 elections, the number of single-member constituencies was reduced from 15 to 10. However, an additional five members were elected at-large at the national level, with voters able to vote for up to five at-large candidates. 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.

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.

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

Results

Party		District			At-large			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	People's Democratic Movement	3,164	50.13	4	15,431	50.71	3	7	+5
	Progressive National Party	2,833	44.89	6	14,764	48.52	2	8	–5
	People's Progressive Party	310	4.91	0				0	New
	Independents	4	0.06	0	233	0.77	0	0	0
Nominated members								4	–
Ex officio members								2	–
Total		6,311	100.00	10	30,428	100.00	5	21	0
Valid votes		6,311	99.35
Invalid/blank votes		41	0.65
Total votes		6,352	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		7,245	87.67
Source: Caribbean Elections

By constituency

Constituency	Candidate	Party		Votes
1. Grand Turk North	George Alexander Lightbourne		Progressive National Party	353
	Derek Anthonio Rolle		People's Democratic Movement	336
2. Grand Turk South	Edwin Astwood		People's Democratic Movement	524
	Rex Elton Swann		Progressive National Party	292
3. South Caicos	Norman Benjamin Saunders		Progressive National Party	219
	Edith Andrea Cox		People's Democratic Movement	132
4. Middle and North Caicos	Ricardo Don Hue Gardiner		Progressive National Party	261
	Ashwood Leon Forbes		People's Democratic Movement	250
5. Leeward	Akierra M. Missick		Progressive National Party	337
	Ezra Ringo Tyrone Taylor		People's Democratic Movement	305
	Bennett Williams		Independent	4
6. The Bight	Porsha Monique Stubbs Smith		Progressive National Party	335
	Sonny Alexander Forbes		People's Democratic Movement	294
	Dorell Monique Pratt Delancy		People's Progressive Party	36
7. Cheshire Hall and Richmond Hill (results voided in February 2013)	Amanda A. Misick		Progressive National Party	394
	Isaac Oral Selver		People's Democratic Movement	364
	Edward E. Smith		People's Progressive Party	58
8. Blue Hills	Goldray McMillin Ewing		People's Democratic Movement	347
	Adrian Carlyle Williams		Progressive National Party	232
	Wendal D. Wilson		People's Progressive Party	84
9. Five Cays	Sean Rickard Astwood		People's Democratic Movement	347
	Thomas I.N. Ewing		Progressive National Party	253
	Harold Charles		People's Progressive Party	103
10. Wheeland	Vaden Delroy Williams		People's Democratic Movement	265
	Gregory O'Neal Lightbourne		Progressive National Party	157
	Zhavargo J. Jolly		People's Progressive Party	29
All Island District 5 elected at-large
	Sharlene Linette Cartwright Robinson		People's Democratic Movement	3,427
	Rufus Washington Ewing		Progressive National Party	3,252
	Derek Taylor		People's Democratic Movement	3,191
	Charles Washington Misick		Progressive National Party	3,107
	Josephine Connolly		People's Democratic Movement	3,023
	Carlos W. Simons		Progressive National Party	2,899
	Samuel I. Harvey		People's Democratic Movement	2,896
	Oswald O'Neal Skippings		People's Democratic Movement	2,894
	Wayne Newton Garland		Progressive National Party	2,806
	Royal Stephenson Robinson		Progressive National Party	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. A by-election was held on 22 March 2013. Amanda Misick won with 455 votes against Isaac Selver's 385.