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The Turks and Caicos Islands are divided into five administrative districts (one in the Turks Islands and four in the Caicos Islands), and the Island of Grand Turk; four of these are headed by District Commissioners, and Providenciales District is run by the Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Premier in Providenciales. The Island of Grand Turk is directly administered by the TCI Government. [1]
Nr | Administrative District [2] | Headquarters | Area (km2) | Population [lower-alpha 1] | Electoral Districts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Caicos Islands | |||||
1 | Providenciales (including West Caicos) | Blue Hills | 163.6 | 33,293 | 6 |
2 | North Caicos | Bottle Creek | 144.9 | 2,156 | 2 |
3 | Middle Caicos | Conch Bar | 144.2 | 522 | 1 |
4 | South Caicos (including East Caicos) | Cockburn Harbour | 136.8 | 2,063 | 2 |
Turks Islands | |||||
5 | Grand Turk | Cockburn Town | 17.6 | 4,831 | 4 |
6 | Salt Cay | Balfour Town | 9.1 | 108 | - |
Turks and Caicos Islands | Cockburn Town | 616.2 | 42,973 | 15 |
(the area figures were determined from information in "TCI Physical Characteristics") [3]
For the legislative council, the Turks and Caicos Islands are divided into fifteen Electoral Districts (four in the Turks Islands and eleven in the Caicos Islands): [4] [5] [6] [7]
Electoral District | Official Description | Representative as of 2004-10-13 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Turks Islands | ||||||||
Electoral District One | West Road, Grand Turk | Dwayne Taylor | ||||||
Electoral District Two | Overback, Grand Turk | Floyd Basil Hall | ||||||
Electoral District Three | Backsalina-North, Grand Turk | Oswald O. Skippings | ||||||
Electoral District Four | Backsalina-South, Grand Turk1) | Derek Hugh Taylor | ||||||
Caicos Islands | ||||||||
Electoral District Five | South Caicos South, South Caicos2) | McAllister Eugene Hanchell | ||||||
Electoral District Six | South Caicos North, South Caicos | Norman B. Saunders | ||||||
Electoral District Seven | Middle Caicos | Jeffrey Christoval Hall | ||||||
Electoral District Eight | North Caicos- East, North Caicos | Michael Eugene Misick | ||||||
Electoral District Nine | North Caicos- West, North Caicos3) | Clarence W. Selver | ||||||
Electoral District Ten | The Bight, Providenciales | Karen Delancy | ||||||
Electoral District Eleven | Blue Hills, Providenciales | Vaden Delroy Williams | ||||||
Electoral District Twelve | Five Cays, Providenciales | Lillian Robinson Been | ||||||
Electoral District Thirteen | Cheshire Hall, Providenciales | Galmo Williams | ||||||
Electoral District Fourteen | Leeward, Providenciales 4) | |||||||
Electoral District Fifteen | Wheeland and West caicos | |||||||
1) including Salt Cay | ||||||||
2) including Big Ambergris Cay and Little Ambergris Cay | ||||||||
3) including Parrot Cay | ||||||||
4) including Pine Cay and Water Cay | ||||||||
An official web site mentions two additional electoral districts on Providenciales, namely Long Bay Hills and Richmond Hill, but without giving district numbers [8]
For the November 2012 elections the Electoral District Boundary Commission has delineated 10 Electoral districts:
On August 14, 2012, Governor Roderic Todd signed into law the Electoral Districts (Boundaries Amendment) Ordinance. [9]
By the time of the 2016 House of Assembly elections, there were 10 electoral districts ("constituencies") and the results were as follows:
Constituency | Candidate | Party | Votes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Grand Turk North | George Lightbourne | PNP | 305 | |
Derek Rolle | PDM | 273 | |||
Kwame Odinga Smith | PDA | 21 | |||
2 | Grand Turk South and Saltcay | Edwin Astwood | PDM | 399 | |
Arthur Lightbourne | PNP | 276 | |||
Noel Terrence Skippings | PDA | 66 | |||
Valerie Jennings | Independent | 12 | |||
3 | South Caicos | Ruth Blackman | PNP | 146 | |
McAllister Eusene Hanchell | Independent | 97 | |||
Keno Shamado Forbes | PDM | 70 | |||
Christopher Emanuel Hall | PDA | 6 | |||
4 | Middle and North Caicos | Ralph Higgs | PDM | 262 | |
Mark Fulford | PNP | 201 | |||
5 | Leeward (Providenciales) | Akierra Missick | PNP | 376 | |
Ezra Ringo Tyrone Taylor | PDM | 289 | |||
Calsada Carolie Johnson | PDA | 17 | |||
6 | The Bight (Providenciales) | Porsha Stubbs-Smith | PNP | 285 | |
George C.D. Pratt | PDM | 284 | |||
Dozzlie McLom Delancy | PDA | 38 | |||
7 | Cheshire Hall and Richmond Hill (Providenciales) | Douglas Parnell | PDM | 451 | |
Amanda Misick | PNP | 347 | |||
Charles Delancy | PDA | 43 | |||
8 | Blue Hills (Providenciales) | Mixmillian Goldray Ewing | PDM | 366 | |
Claudine Ewing-Pratt | PNP | 267 | |||
Ciclyn Been | PDA | 37 | |||
9 | Five Cays (Providenciales) | Sean Rickard Astwood | PDM | 470 | |
Rachel Marshall Taylor | PNP | 269 | |||
Bobbie Chambers | PDA | 15 | |||
10 | Wheeland (Providenciales) | Vaden Delroy Williams | PDM | 305 | |
Dameko Canez Dean | PNP | 173 | |||
Hudson James Parker | Independent | 23 | |||
All Island District 5 elected at-large | |||||
Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson | PDM | 3,024 | |||
Josephine Connolly | PDM | 3,019 | |||
Derek Hugh Taylor | PDM | 2,740 | |||
Karen Evadne Malcolm | PDM | 2,725 | |||
Washington Misick | PNP | 2,335 | |||
Robert A. Been | PDM | 2314 | |||
Rufus Ewing | PNP | 2234 | |||
John Malcolm | PNP | 2011 | |||
Ricardo Don-Hue Gardner | PNP | 1901 | |||
Sheba Latrice Wilson | PNP | 1861 | |||
Michael Misick | Independent | 1629 | |||
Jasmin Walkin | Independent | 834 | |||
Sabrina Elizebeth Green | Independent | 675 | |||
Oswald Skippings | PDA | 549 | |||
Clarence Wesley Selver | Independent | 301 | |||
Samuel Iotis Harvey | PDA | 255 | |||
Courtney Missick | Independent | 240 | |||
Damian Wilson | Independent | 206 | |||
Shirley Louise Clarke-Calcano | PDA | 178 | |||
Herbert Andrew Swann jr. | PDA | 135 | |||
Oscar O’Brien Forbes | Independent | 67 | |||
Source: RTC |
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.
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.
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