2016 Turks and Caicos Islands general election

General elections were held in Turks and Caicos Islands on 15 December 2016.^[1] The result was a victory for the People's Democratic Movement (PDM), with Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson becoming the islands' first female Premier.^[2] Following the election outgoing Prime Minister Rufus Ewing resigned as Progressive National Party (PNP) leader and quit politics.^[3]

2016 Turks and Caicos Islands general election

← 2012 15 December 2016 2021 →
15 of the 21 seats in the House of Assembly
First party Second party   Leader Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson Rufus Ewing Party PDM PNP Last election 7 8 Seats won 10 5 Seat change 3 3
Premier before election Rufus Ewing PNP Elected Premier Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson PDM

Electoral system

At the time of the election, the House of Assembly had 15 elected members and four appointed members. The 15 elected members were elected by two methods; ten were elected from single-member constituencies, with five elected on an at-large basis, with voters able to vote for up to five candidates at the national level.^[4] The four appointed members include one nominated by the Premier, one nominated by the Leader of the Opposition and two members appointed by the Governor.^[5]

Campaign

A total of 31 candidates contested the 10 single-member constituencies; the PDM and PNP both ran full slates of 10 candidates, whilst the Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) had eight. The remaining three candidates were independents. There were also 21 candidates in the at-large constituency, five each from the PDM and PNP, four from the PDA and seven independents.^[6]

Results

Party		District			At-large			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	People's Democratic Movement	3,169	51.20	6	13,822	47.28	4	10	+3
	Progressive National Party	2,645	42.74	4	10,342	35.38	1	5	–3
	Progressive Democratic Alliance	243	3.93	0	1,117	3.82	0	0	New
	Independents	132	2.13	0	3,952	13.52	0	0	0
Nominated members								4	0
Ex officio members								2	0
Total		6,189	100.00	10	29,233	100.00	5	21	0
Valid votes		6,189	99.21
Invalid/blank votes		49	0.79
Total votes		6,238	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		7,732	80.68
Source: RTC

By constituency

Constituency		Candidate	Party		Votes
1	Grand Turk North	George Lightbourne		Progressive National Party	305
		Derek Rolle		People's Democratic Movement	273
		Kwame Odinga Smith		Progressive Democratic Alliance	21
2	Grand Turk South and Saltcay	Edwin Astwood		People's Democratic Movement	399
		Arthur Lightbourne		Progressive National Party	276
		Noel Terrence Skippings		Progressive Democratic Alliance	66
		Valerie Jennings		Independent	12
3	South Caicos	Ruth Blackman		Progressive National Party	146
		McAllister Eusene Hanchell		Independent	97
		Keno Shamado Forbes		People's Democratic Movement	70
		Christopher Emanuel Hall		Progressive Democratic Alliance	6
4	Middle and North Caicos	Ralph Higgs		People's Democratic Movement	262
		Mark Fulford		Progressive National Party	201
5	Leeward (Providenciales)	Akierra Missick		Progressive National Party	376
		Ezra Ringo Tyrone Taylor		People's Democratic Movement	289
		Calsada Carolie Johnson		Progressive Democratic Alliance	17
6	The Bight (Providenciales)	Porsha Stubbs-Smith		Progressive National Party	285
		George C.D. Pratt		People's Democratic Movement	284
		Dozzlie McLom Delancy		Progressive Democratic Alliance	38
7	Cheshire Hall and Richmond Hill (Providenciales)	Douglas Parnell		People's Democratic Movement	451
		Amanda Misick		Progressive National Party	347
		Charles Delancy		Progressive Democratic Alliance	43
8	Blue Hills (Providenciales)	Mixmillian Goldray Ewing		People's Democratic Movement	366
		Claudine Ewing-Pratt		Progressive National Party	267
		Ciclyn Been		Progressive Democratic Alliance	37
9	Five Cays (Providenciales)	Sean Rickard Astwood		People's Democratic Movement	470
		Rachel Marshall Taylor		Progressive National Party	269
		Bobbie Chambers		Progressive Democratic Alliance	15
10	Wheeland (Providenciales)	Vaden Delroy Williams		People's Democratic Movement	305
		Dameko Canez Dean		Progressive National Party	173
		Hudson James Parker		Independent	23
All Island District 5 elected at-large
		Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson		People's Democratic Movement	3,024
		Josephine Connolly		People's Democratic Movement	3,019
		Derek Hugh Taylor		People's Democratic Movement	2,740
		Karen Evadne Malcolm		People's Democratic Movement	2,725
		Washington Misick		Progressive National Party	2,335
		Robert A. Been		People's Democratic Movement	2,314
		Rufus Ewing		Progressive National Party	2,234
		John Malcolm		Progressive National Party	2,011
		Ricardo Don-Hue Gardner		Progressive National Party	1,901
		Sheba Latrice Wilson		Progressive National Party	1,861
		Michael Misick		Independent	1,629
		Jasmin Walkin		Independent	834
		Sabrina Elizebeth Green		Independent	675
		Oswald Skippings		Progressive Democratic Alliance	549
		Clarence Wesley Selver		Independent	301
		Samuel Iotis Harvey		Progressive Democratic Alliance	255
		Courtney Missick		Independent	240
		Damian Wilson		Independent	206
		Shirley Louise Clarke-Calcano		Progressive Democratic Alliance	178
		Herbert Andrew Swann Jr.		Progressive Democratic Alliance	135
		Oscar O’Brien Forbes		Independent	67
Source: RTC

References

1. New date announced for Turks and Caicos general election Archived 2016-11-04 at the Wayback Machine Jamaica Observer, 31 October 2016
2. Turks and Caicos elects first female premier Archived 2016-12-20 at the Wayback Machine Caribbean News Now, 16 December 2016
3. Defeated Dr. Rufus Ewing resigns as PNP leader; quits politics Archived 2016-12-21 at the Wayback Machine Sun TCI, 17 December 2016
4. Basic election ballot rules released^[usurped] TCI News Now, 3 September 2012
5. House of Assembly Archived 2016-12-20 at the Wayback Machine Government of the Turks & Caicos Islands
6. General Election Results - 15 December 2016 Archived 22 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine Caribbean Elections