Carlos W. Simons QC (born 8 October 1954) is a Turks and Caicos Islands lawyer and politician. [1]
SImons served on a four-member interim Advisory Council [2] [3] He from July 1986 to 3 March 1988 after two previous Chief Ministers were forced to resign and ministerial government in the territory was suspended. Ministerial government resumed after elections were held in early 1988.
He was a member of the National Democratic Alliance during the suspension of government in the 1980s and is now the deputy leader of the Progressive National Party. [4] He is standing as an at-large representative (i.e. for the All-Island District) in the 2012 general election. [5]
Simons attended City University London for his LL.B., and went on to the Inns of Court School of Law. He was called to the bar of England and Wales in 1983, and the following year was admitted to practice as an attorney at law at the Supreme Court of the Turks and Caicos Islands. [1]
The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and northern West Indies. They are known primarily for tourism and as an offshore financial centre. The resident population in 2023 was estimated by The World Factbook at 59,367, making it the third-largest of the British overseas territories by population. However, according to a Department of Statistics estimate in 2022, the population was 47,720.
Michael Eugene Misick is a Turks and Caicos Islander politician who was the 7th Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands from 15 August 2003 to 9 August 2006 and was the 1st Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands from 9 August 2006 to 23 March 2009. Misick is a member of the Progressive National Party (PNP), and became chief minister when his party, after eight years as the opposition party, gained two parliamentary seats in by-elections. In addition to being premier, he was also the minister for Civil Aviation, Commerce and Development, Planning, District Administration, Broadcasting Commission, Tourist Board, Turks and Caicos Investment Agency, and Tourism. Several other members of Misick's family have been politicians in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and important leaders in the PNP. Washington Misick, his brother, is the current Premier, former Chief Minister and former Minister of Finance.
Before European colonization, the Turks and Caicos Islands were inhabited by Taíno and Lucayan peoples. The first recorded European sighting of the islands now known as the Turks and Caicos occurred in 1512. In the subsequent centuries, the islands were claimed by several European powers with the British Empire eventually gaining control. For many years the islands were governed indirectly through Bermuda, the Bahamas, and Jamaica. When the Bahamas gained independence in 1973, the islands received their own governor, and have remained a separate autonomous British Overseas Territory since. In August 2009, the United Kingdom suspended the Turks and Caicos Islands' self-government following allegations of ministerial corruption. Home rule was restored in the islands after the November 2012 elections.
Politics of the Turks and Caicos Islands takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic dependency, whereby as of August 9, 2006 the Premier is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The islands are an internally self-governing overseas territory of the United Kingdom. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes the Turks and Caicos Islands on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Legislative Council.
The Progressive National Party is a political party in the Turks and Caicos Islands, currently led by Washington Misick. The PNP holds 14 of the 15 seats in the House of Assembly and has been the government since 20 Feb 2021.
Charles Washington Misick is a Turks and Caicos Islander politician who has been the 5th Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands since 20 February 2021. He has been the leader of the Progressive National Party since 20 December 2016. He previously served as the 5th Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands from 3 April 1991 to 31 January 1995, was Minister of Finance, Trade and Investment from 2012 to 2016 and Leader of the Opposition from 1995 to 2003 and again from 2016 to 2021. Misick has been a MHA for the All Island District since November 2012 and was previously an MHA for Grand Turk from 1991 to 1999.
Norman B. Saunders is a Turks and Caicos Islander former politician who served as the 3rd Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands from 4 November 1980 to 28 March 1985. Saunders is also the longest-serving Member of the House of Assembly in the Turks and Caicos Islands, nearing 50 years of service, the first Chief Minister to win back-to-back elections in 1980 and 1984, the only ever politician in the nation to win as an independent candidate, and the first leader of the opposition.
Ariel Misick is a Turks and Caicos Islands politician and former minister of development and commerce. He served on a four-member interim Advisory Council from July 1986 to 3 March 1988 after two previous Chief Ministers were forced to resign and ministerial government in the territory was suspended. He is now a partner at the law firm of Misick & Stanbrook. Misick was a member of the National Democratic Alliance.
Emmanuel Misick is a politician from the Turks and Caicos Islands. He served on a four-member interim Advisory Council from July 1986 to 3 March 1988 after the then-Chief Minister, Norman Saunders, and a member of his cabinet were forced to resign and ministerial government in the territory was suspended. He was a member of the National Democratic Alliance.
Clement Howell was a politician from the Turks and Caicos Islands. He served on a four-member interim advisory council beginning in July 1986, after two previous chief ministers were forced to resign and the ministerial government in the territory was suspended.
The House of Assembly is the legislature of the 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.
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.
Akierra Mary Deanne Missick is a Turks and Caicos Islands lawyer and politician. She served as Deputy Premier and Minister of Education from 2012 to 2016 and Leader of Government Business and Minister of Infrastructure from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Progressive National Party, Missick has served as the Member of the House of Assembly (MHA) for Leeward & Long Bay ED5 since 2012.
The Attorney-General of the Turks and Caicos Islands is the legal adviser to the Government and House of Assembly of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Previously administered indirectly via Bermuda, Jamaica and the Bahamas, the islands received their own governor and became a separate autonomous British Overseas Territory when Bahamas became independent in 1973.
The Director of Public Prosecutions is an officer of the Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands whose role is to prosecute criminal offences. The role was newly created by the 2011 Constitution.
The Cabinet of the Turks and Caicos Islands comprises the ministers who advise the governor on government affairs. It was known as the Executive Council under the 1988 Constitution, and was given its current name in the 2006 Constitution. The Cabinet was disbanded in 2009 when self-government in the Turks and Caicos Islands was suspended. It was reconstituted after the 2012 election.
The Constitution of the Turks and Caicos Islands, in its present form, was passed in 2011.
Sharlene Linette Cartwright-Robinson JP is a Turks and Caicos Islander politician and lawyer who served as the 4th Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands from 20 December 2016 to 20 February 2021. She was the territory's first female premier. She was also the first woman to become first, deputy head, and then, head of the People's Democratic Movement (PDM).
General elections were held in the Turks and Caicos Islands on 3 March 1988. They were the first after the suspension of the islands' constitution between 1986 and 1988, which followed Chief Minister Norman Saunders leaving office in March 1985 after being arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling and the next Chief Minister Nathaniel Francis resigning in July 1986 after a British parliamentary inquiry accused him of corruption.
Karen Malcolm is a politician in the Turks and Caicos Islands. From 2016 to 2021, she was a member of the House of Assembly and the islands' minister of education, youth, culture, social, and library services.