PDM out of CRISIS, ready to Lead TCI again says Leader Edwin Astwood 

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, July 17, 2023 – The PDM has matured since its last stint in office and subsequent 14 to 1 loss to the PNP; the party’s leader says they are ready to serve the Turks and Caicos once more.

The firm statement was in response to questions put to the the People’s Democratic Movement about it’s readiness to lead after an historic loss at the polls a mere two and a half years ago.  The party held a press conference on Thursday July 13, where they announced an injunction against the PNP Administration, called for constitutional changes related to Police accountability and responded to a range of questions from the media.

“We have been there, we know the faults, we know what needs to be done, we know what we didn’t do and we have a different mindset,” was the Opposition Leader’s response.

While he promised that the party no longer operated the same way it had in 2019 he maintained that external circumstances had inhibited the Sharlene Robinson Administration’s ability to invest and expand; he said the current government is failing despite having no hurricanes or pandemic with which to cope.

“We were just operating in crisis mode all the time, we just came into office [and] the whole country got destroyed by two hurricanes in one week, so it was just ‘repair’ and as soon as you came out of that it was Covid-19, it was just a crisis.”

He described the current period as “all sunshine” and said if his government had the luxury of that kind of atmosphere “with only a few rain showers” they could have completed much more.

“Our basic philosophy is not different, that’s taking care of the people,” he promised.

Astwood was the only elected member of the PDM who managed to hold on to his seat in the February 2021 General Election as Member of Parliament of Grand Turk South and Salt Cay.

The PDM party now says they have received considerable interest from community members who want to join them and are in the process of accepting applications to build a shadow Cabinet.

The Turks and Caicos Islands holds elections every four years.