Deandrea Hamilton
Editor
Turks and Caicos, February 9, 2025 – It took some diligence and re-learning of the electoral process back in 2012 to understand the unique practice of voting for candidates in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
No longer were voters only choosing one constituency representative, but also five all island representatives. That has since ballooned to nine due to a constitutional change which eliminated appointed seats. Now, all seats in the TCI’s parliament are held by an individual who has been duly elected by the people.
Curiosity emerged in this 2025 national poll when E Jay Saunders, a PNP backbencher won the most votes in the all island category. He finished with 4,614 and topped Washington Misick, his party’s leader and the re-elected premier, who got 4,208 votes.
They were first and second, though the difference between them was 406 votes.
It’s not the first time the most popular finisher in the all island vote hasn’t also been premier. In fact, the first time this happened the person who got the most votes – Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson – had to be contented with serving as Opposition Leader because her party was not the one with the most elected candidates. That was in 2012.
In these islands, the premiership is won when two simple requirements are met.
One, when a political party elects its leader it is constitutionally entrenched within that document that the leader, if he or she wins their seat, will ascend to premier.
Leader of party equals leader of country if that party wins the most seats to form government and if that person is a holder of one of those seats.
Two, in order to satisfy the country’s constitutional requirement, you have to be elected to parliament and deemed the leader of the party with the most seats.
In TCIs case, we have 9 seats for the all island candidates.
Any individual who ended the day as among the nine people with the most votes, they would have satisfied that requirement because they would be among the nine elected in that category.
First or fifth, you’re in the nine and you’re the party leader, then you’re the premier.
If you’re a party leader and ended up the candidate with even the ninth highest amount of votes, you would still be qualified to be country leader.
Place in this category of the race does not matter. It’s why the fight for leadership is often so fierce within political parties, why a party has to be governed by a constitution so that clear rules are established and accepted and why the organisation has to be government approved or registered.
The governor then complies with the party’s written constitution about who he or she must swear in as premier if the said party racks up the most seats.
The PNP won the most seats; 16 of 19.
The PNP chose Washington Misick as its leader, therefore Washington Misick becomes the premier.
Popularity in the all island category in TCI gives one bragging rights (if they feel like it) and insight into how the public sees or accepts them. But, that’s all.
The voters in this 2025 runoff have demonstrated that of all the 20+ candidates that ran all island or at large, EJ Saunders was or is the most popular because he got the most votes in this category. He’s got to feel good about that fact and he should. That’s some seriously bankable political capital which he can spend in a bid to become the next leader of the PNP first, then the Turks and Caicos Islands if his party is able to repeat a victory in 2030, which is when elections are constitutionally due.
Popularity is super but in the Turks and Caicos’ system it does not automatically mean, premier.
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