The Falkland Islands general election of 2017 was held on Thursday 9 November 2017 to elect all eight members of the Legislative Assembly (five from the

Stanley constituency Stanley is a constituency of the Legislative Assembly of the Falkland Islands which has been in existence since the first elections in the Falklands in 1949. The constituency of Stanley consists of the area that lies within 3.5 miles of the spi ...

and three from the

Camp constituency Camp is a constituency of the Legislative Assembly of the Falkland Islands which has been in existence since 1977. The constituency of Camp consists of all parts of the territory which lie more than 3.5 miles from the spire of Christ Church Cat ...

) through

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

using

block voting Block voting or bloc voting refers to electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected at once and a group (voting bloc) of voters can force the system to elect only their preferred candidates. Block voting may be used at large (in a si ...

, with each Stanley constituent having up to 5 votes and each Camp constituent having up to 3 votes.

Voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

was 80% in Stanley and 86% in Camp. It was the third election since the new

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

came into force replacing the Legislative Council (which had existed since 1845) with the Legislative Assembly. As no political parties are active in the Falklands, all the candidates stood as Independents. Incumbent members

Jan Cheek Janet Lynda Cheek (née Biggs; born 1948) is a Falkland Islands politician who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Stanley constituency from 2009 to 2017. Cheek won re-election in 2013 but stepped down from the assembly at ...

, Michael Poole,

Phyllis Rendell Phyllis Mary Rendell (née Oliver) is a Falkland Islands politician who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Camp constituency from 2013 to 2017. Rendell was born Phyllis Mary Oliver to farmer John Oliver in the Falkland Isla ...

and

Mike Summers Michael Victor Summers (born 1952) is a Falkland Islands politician who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Stanley constituency from 2011 to 2017. He was previously a Member of the Legislative Council from 1996–2009. Su ...

did not put their names forward for reelection. Only three members of the previous assembly won reelection, with

Ian Hansen Ian Hansen (born 1958) is a Falkland Islander farmer and politician who has served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Camp constituency since winning an uncontested by-election in 2011 which filled the seat vacated by Bill Luxton. ...

being the only incumbent member to increase his percentage of the vote.

Campaign

Under section 32 of the

of the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

, a general election did not need to take place until 19 January 2018. However, in August 2017 the Legislative Assembly announced that an early general election was being planned for 9 November 2017 (almost exactly four years after the previous general election of 2013). The closing date for

voter registration In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote. The ru ...

and applications for postal and proxy votes was noon FKST on 19 October 2017 and the deadline for nomination as a candidate in the election was 16:15 FKST on 20 October 2017. As well as attending

husting A husting originally referred to a native Germanic governing assembly, the thing. By metonymy, the term may now refer to any event (such as debates or speeches) during an election campaign where one or more of the candidates are present. Deve ...

s, each candidate gave a fifteen-minute televised interview to former member of the Legislative Assembly, Richard Cockwell, which was broadcast on the

Falkland Islands Television Service Telecommunications in the Falkland Islands includes radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet. Radio and television * Radio: Radio services provided by the public broadcaster, Falkland Islands Radio Service, broadcasting on ...

Results

Incumbent members are in ''italics''.

Stanley constituency

Camp constituency

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falkland Islands general election,2017 2017 elections in British Overseas Territories

General election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Non-partisan elections November 2017 events in South America