Turks and Caicos Islands: House of Assembly, 15 December 2016

At stake in this election:

• 15 seats in the House of Assembly

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); represented by Governor Peter BECKINGHAM (since 9 October 2013)
• Head of Government: Premier Rufus EWING (since 13 November 2012)
• Assembly: Turks and Caicos Islands has a unicameral House of Assembly composed of 19 seats with members serving 4-year terms.

Description of electoral system:

• For the House of Assembly, 15 members are elected in a single all-islands constituency by simple majority vote, 1 member is nominated by the premier and appointed by the Governor, 1 is nominated by the opposition party leader and appointed by the Governor, and 2 from the Turks and Caicos Islands Civic Society are directly appointed by the Governor.

Last Election:

• Elections for the House of Assembly were last held on 9 November 2012. The Progressive National Party won 8 seats and the People’s Democratic Movement won 7 seats.

Main parties in the election:

• Progressive National Party (PNP)
  • Leader: Rufus EWING
  • Seats won in last election: 8
• People’s Democratic Movement (PDM)
  • Leader: Sharlene CARTWRIGHT-ROBINSON
  • Seats won in last election: 7
• Progressive Democratic Association (PDA)
  • Leader: Oswald SKIPPINGS
  • Seats won in last election: 0

Population and number of registered voters:

·         Population: 51,430 (July 2016 est.)

·         Registered Voters: 7,245 (2015)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 25,495 (July 2016 est.)

·         Is Turks and Caicos Islands a signatory to CEDAW: N/A

·         Has Turks and Caicos Islands ratified CEDAW: N/A

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 7 (36.84%)

·         Human Development Index Position: N/A

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Turks and Caicos Islands a signatory to CRPD: N/A

·         Has Turks and Caicos Islands ratified CRPD: N/A

·         Population with a disability: 7,714 (est.)