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House of Assembly
House of Assembly
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Speaker	Gordon Burton, PNP ; since 5 March 2021
Premier	Washington Misick, PNP
Leader of the Opposition	Edwin Astwood, PDM
Structure
Seats	21; 15 elected members; 4 appointed; 2 ex officio
Political groups	Government (14) PNP (14); Opposition (1) PDM (1); Others (6) Appointees (4); Ex officio (2);
Elections
Last election	19 February 2021
Next election	2025
Meeting place
	Cockburn Town, Turks and Caicos Islands

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. A further change in name to Parliament of the Turks and Caicos Islands is planned after the next elections in 2025., alongside a term extension to five years. ^[1]

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 was held in November 2012.^[2]

Composition

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

Starting with the 2025 elections, the composition of the newly renamed Parliament will be changed so that the four formerly appointed members will also be elected at-large, thus increasing the at-large constituency to nine members.^[3]

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, 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.^[4] The chair of the Consultative Forum was Lillian Missick.^[5] 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

Party		District			At-large			Total seats	+/–

Party		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats	+/–
	Progressive National Party	3,572	55.29	9	17,105	56.25	5	14	+9
	People's Democratic Movement	2,888	44.71	1	12,127	39.88	0	1	–9
	Progressive Democratic Alliance	–	–	–	89	0.29	0	0	0
	Independents	–	–	–	1,090	3.58	0	0	0
Invalid/blank votes			–	–		–	–	–	–
Total		6,460	100	10	30,411	100	5	15	-
Registered voters/turnout		8,776	73.61	–	43,880	69.30	–	–	–
Source: Elections Department RTC Archived 2021-07-09 at the Wayback Machine, gov.tc