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TheFalkland Islands general election of 2013 was held on Thursday 7 November 2013[1] to elect all eight members of theLegislative Assembly (five from theStanley constituency and three from theCamp constituency) throughuniversal suffrage usingblock voting, 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%.[2] As no political parties are active in the Falklands, all the candidates stood asIndependents. TheChief Executive of the Falkland Islands,Keith Padgett, acted asreturning officer. It was the second election since the newConstitution came into force replacing theLegislative 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 someIslanders that potential candidates had been put off from standing as they didn't want to give up their jobs.[3]
All but two members of the previous Legislative Assembly won re-election (Camp MLASharon Halford lost her seat and Stanley MLADick Sawle did not stand for re-election).[2]Michael Poole, one of the new intake, became the first member of the islands' legislature to have been born after theFalklands War and received the highest number of votes of a candidate in the history of the islands.[4]
On 29 July 2013 theExecutive Council announced thatelection day had been scheduled for 7 November.[1] In preparation for the election, the Legislative Assembly was dissolved by theGovernor on 26 September 2013. Nominations for candidates opened on the day of the dissolution and closed on 17 October.[5] Eleven candidates stood in Stanley and five in Camp.[6]
Each candidate made a two-minute televised broadcast on theFalkland Islands Television Service to set out theirmanifestos.[7]Hustings were held in late October and early November, with a north–south air-link and better facilities for tourism being the main issues debated.[8]
Incumbent members are initalics.
| Stanley[9][10] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| List | Candidates | Votes | Of total (%) | ± from prev. | |
| Nonpartisan | Michael Poole | 957 | 20.15 | NA | |
| Nonpartisan | Barry Elsby | 893 | 18.80 | NA'"`UNIQ−−ref−00000028−QINU`"' | |
| Nonpartisan | Gavin Short | 844 | 17.77 | +6.49 | |
| Nonpartisan | Mike Summers | 719 | 15.14 | +10.48'"`UNIQ−−ref−00000029−QINU`"' | |
| Nonpartisan | Jan Cheek | 333 | 7.01 | −3.38 | |
| Nonpartisan | Teslyn Barkman | 292 | 6.15 | NA | |
| Nonpartisan | John Birmingham | 285 | 6.00 | +0.25 | |
| Nonpartisan | Norman Besley-Clark | 148 | 3.12 | −2.60 | |
| Nonpartisan | Candy Blackley | 138 | 2.91 | NA | |
| Nonpartisan | Lynda Buckland | 96 | 2.02 | NA | |
| Nonpartisan | Faith Felton | 45 | 0.95 | NA | |
| Rejected ballots | 3 | 0.003 | NA | ||
| Turnout | 4,750[nb 3] | 75.4 | −0.2 | ||
| Camp[9] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| List | Candidates | Votes | Of total (%) | ± from prev. | |
| Nonpartisan | Phyllis Rendell | 204 | 30.22 | NA | |
| Nonpartisan | Roger Edwards | 162 | 24.00 | +0.80 | |
| Nonpartisan | Ian Hansen | 129 | 19.11 | +0.53'"`UNIQ−−ref−0000002F−QINU`"' | |
| Nonpartisan | Melanie Gilding | 124 | 18.37 | NA | |
| Nonpartisan | Sharon Halford | 56 | 8.30 | −14.74 | |
| Rejected ballots | 1 | 0.002 | NA | ||
| Turnout | 675[nb 5] | 85.2 | −4.1 | ||
