The Falkland Islands general election of 2013 was held on Thursday 7 November 2013 to elect all eight members of the Legislative Assembly (five from the Stanley constituency and three from the Camp constituency) 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 stan ...

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. A total of 1,046 ballots (4,750 votes) were cast in Stanley, representing a turn-out of 75.4%, and 242 ballots (675 votes) in Camp, representing a turn-out of 85.5%. As no political parties are active in the Falklands, all the candidates stood as Independents. The Chief Executive of the Falkland Islands, Keith Padgett, acted as

returning officer In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies. Australia In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral ...

. It was the second 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 entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

came into force replacing the Legislative Council (which had existed since 1845) with the Legislative Assembly. For the first time, elected candidates would be paid a salary, rather than just expenses, and be expected to work full-time, giving up whatever jobs or business interests they may have previously held. This led to criticism from some Islanders that potential candidates had been put off from standing as they didn't want to give up their jobs. All but two members of the previous Legislative Assembly won re-election (Camp MLA

Sharon Halford Sharon Halford (born 27 November 1953) is a Falkland Islands politician who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Camp constituency from 2009 until 2013. Halford was also a Member of the Legislative Council from 1993– 2001 ...

lost her seat and Stanley MLA Dick Sawle did not stand for re-election). Michael Poole, one of the new intake, became the first member of the islands' legislature to have been born after the Falklands War and received the highest number of votes of a candidate in the history of the islands.

Campaign

On 29 July 2013 the Executive Council announced that

election day Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections a ...

had been scheduled for 7 November. In preparation for the election, the Legislative Assembly was dissolved by the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

on 26 September 2013. Nominations for candidates opened on the day of the dissolution and closed on 17 October. Eleven candidates stood in Stanley and five in Camp. Each candidate made a two-minute televised 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 ...

to set out their manifestos.

Hustings 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. Devel ...

were held in late October and early November, with a north–south air-link and better facilities for tourism being the main issues debated.

Results

Incumbent members are in ''italics''.

Stanley constituency

Camp constituency

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falkland Islands general election, 2013 2013 elections in British Overseas Territories

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 Dubouze ...

General election

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

Non-partisan elections November 2013 events in South America