The House of Assembly is the

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

of the

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Br ...

of the

Turks and Caicos Islands The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) 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 ...

. 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. In August 2009, the United Kingdom suspended the Turks and Caicos' self-government after allegations of ministerial corruption. The prerogative of the ministerial government and the House of Assembly were vested in the islands' governor until a

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 ( ...

was held in November 2012.

Composition

The House of Assembly has 21 members in total. Formerly, 15 members were elected for a four-year term in single-seat

constituencies An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

(of which 11 lay in the Caicos Islands and 4 in the Turks Islands), while 3 members sat ''ex officio'', 3 were appointed members and a speaker was chosen from outside the house. Although the number of elected representatives to the body was not changed during the 2009-12 suspension of self-government, the composition was changed so that ten of the 15 elected representatives are elected to individual districts, while five are now elected

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

Consultative Forum (2009-2012)

Following the suspension of self-government in August 2009, the Governor assembled a Consultative Forum for the Turks and Caicos Islands to advise him on legislation relating to the territory. The forum consisted of the Chief Executive, the

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

, the Permanent Secretary for Finance, and eleven to fifteen representatives of the community, appointed by the Governor. The council could make non-binding recommendations to the Governor about bills that were presented to it and on policies that were referred to it. The chair of the Consultative Forum was Lillian Missick. The forum disbanded in November 2012 upon the election of a new House of Assembly following restoration of self-government to the islands.

Election results

General election results, 2021

References

Legislatures of British Overseas Territories Politics of the Turks and Caicos Islands

{{TurksCaicos-stub

Composition

Consultative Forum (2009-2012)

Election results

See also

References