Sharlene Linette Cartwright-Robinson JP (born 4 September 1971) is a Turks and Caicos Islander politician and lawyer who served as the 4th

Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands The Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands is the political leader and head of government. The post of premier is the equivalent to chief minister or prime minister in other British Overseas Territories. It is the highest political level that c ...

from 20 December 2016 to 20 February 2021. She was the territory's first female premier. She was also the first woman to become first, deputy head, and then, head of the People's Democratic Movement (PDM).

Career

Cartwright-Robinson passed the bar in 1998. Her political career began the following year with an appointment to the Legislative Council, in which capacity she chaired a variety of committees, and served until 2003. She stood as a candidate in the 2003 election, but was defeated. After self-government in the Turks and Caicos Islands was suspended in 2009, she became a member of the Consultative Forum. She was removed from that position in May 2012 after

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

Ric Todd indicated that people planning to run in the November election should not continue to sit on the Advisory Council or the Consultative Forum. In July 2012, Cartwright-Robinson was named Deputy Leader of the PDM, under Leader Oswald Skippings. In the 2012 election, she ran as one of the eleven candidates for the five

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 tha ...

seats in the All Island District, where she obtained the highest number of votes. Due to provisions in the new 2011

Constitution of the Turks and Caicos Islands The Constitution of the Turks and Caicos Islands, in its present form, was passed in 2011. 1962 When Jamaica became independent in 1962, the Turks and Caicos Islands, formerly under Jamaican administration, became a Crown colony in its own right. ...

, running for election required her to renounce her birth-right citizenship in

the Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

. Following the general election, her party (the PDM) elected her the Party Leader. Cartwright-Robinson led her People's Democratic Movement to a victory in the December 2016 general election beating out two male candidates for the premiership. This ended the thirteen year ruling stretch of the Progressive National Party (PNP). She led the country during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2020. In February 2021, Cartwright-Robinson lost her seat in the 2021 Turks and Caicos Islands general election where her party lost 9 seats in a 14-1 blowout defeat. Following this, she stepped down as leader of the party.

Personal life

Cartwright-Robinson was born in

on 4 September 1971 to Turks and Caicos Islands parents who were working there and was issued with a

Bahamian passport The Bahamian passport is issued to citizens of the Bahamas for international travel. As of October 2024, Bahamian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 161 countries and territories, ranking the Bahamian passport 21st in terms of t ...

. Her family returned to the Turks and Caicos Islands when she was six. Cartwright-Robinson is

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

. She has served as Youth Director of the Turks and Caicos Islands Baptist Union since 2006. In 2012, she also became president of the Caribbean Baptist Fellowship's Youth Department, making her ''

ex officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, or council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by r ...

'' a member of the CBF executive board as well as a vice president of the

Baptist World Alliance The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is an international communion of Baptists, with an estimated 51 million people from 266 member bodies in 134 countries and territories as of 2024. A voluntary association of Baptist churches, the BWA accounts f ...

Youth Committee. She is also an active member of the

Kiwanis Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. In 1987, the organization ...

Club.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartwright-Robinson, Sharlene 1971 births Living people Members of the Turks and Caicos Islands House of Assembly People's Democratic Movement (Turks and Caicos Islands) politicians Premiers of the Turks and Caicos Islands Turks and Caicos Islands Christians Turks and Caicos Islands lawyers Turks and Caicos Islands women in politics Women heads of government of non-sovereign entities

Career

Personal life

See also

References