Caribbean & Central America - November 2012 (ISSN 1741-4458)

After three years of direct rule from the UK, the Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI), a British Overseas Territory, will hold a general election on 9 November.

The suspension of home rule followed the completion of the Sir Robin Auld Commission of Inquiry, which found that there was “a high probability of systemic corruption in government and the legislature and among public officers in the Turks and Caicos Islands in recent years”. 

During the period of direct rule, a new constitution was drawn up and it is under this that the new election will take place.  The number of electoral constituencies has been reduced from 15 to 10, but a further five members will be elected at the national level.  Three parties will contest the elections, with the Progressive National Party (PNP) and the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) both fielding 15 candidates each.  The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) will field five candidates, and two independents are standing.

The previous election was in February 2007 in which the PNP won 13 of the 15 seats in the House of Assembly.  In an attempt to draw a line under the events that led to the suspension of home rule, the party’s current mission statement claims that “transparency, accountability, and respectfulness will be the guiding principles on how we conduct the affairs of the people”.  It is led by Rufus Ewing.

The PDM won 7 out of 13 seats in the 2003 general election, but it subsequently lost two seats in by-elections and then managed to claim only two seats in the 2007 general election.  It is led by Oswald Skippings.

There has been a degree of confusion in the run-up to the election over the eligibility of candidates with dual citizenship.  A number of proposed candidates were born in The Bahamas or the US and have had to make a rapid renunciation of their dual citizenship to qualify.  There might be further complications following the elections as an Integrity Commission will review the suitability of all elected representatives after the election.  Any that fail this test will be replaced by the candidate with the next highest number of votes.

A key controversial issue in the election campaign has been the proposed introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT).  The law to introduce VAT was signed in July, and the tax will be introduced from April 2013.  The Turks and Caicos Independent Business Council (TCIBC) has used the election to step up its campaign against VAT, and both main political parties oppose its introduction.  The TCIBC is saying that the tax should be a question for the newly elected government and should not be treated as a fait accompli.  An anti-VAT petition arranged by the TCIBC gained 3,000 signatures, over half the country’s electorate.

The TCIBC has also retained the services of London-based lobbyists, Media House International, which has put out a statement saying: “The UK government despite presiding over a disastrous British economy, really have to understand that they can’t go on behaving like 18^th century colonial masters when they simply don’t understand the nuances of small countries’ fiscal infrastructures.  VAT might work in a population of 60 million, but it’s a different story when the population is 46,000.”