Island Council (Pitcairn)

Island Council (Pitcairn)
Leadership
Louise Cantillon[1]
Andy Brown
Seats7 voting, 3 ex-officio
Elections
Last election
2025 Pitcairnese general election

The Island Council is the legislature of the Pitcairn Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The Island Council is a democratic, elected body formed of ten members.

Structure

The Council has ten members. Seven of these (five Councillors, the Mayor, and the Deputy Mayor) are elected by popular vote, and are the only members allowed to vote at Council meetings. The other three are ex-officio members: the Administrator (who serves as both the head of government and the representative of the Governor of the Pitcairn Islands), the Governor, and the Deputy Governor. The Councillors and the Deputy Mayor all serve two year terms. The Mayor is elected for three years and is eligible to serve a second term in office, whilst the Administrator is appointed by the Governor for an indefinite term.[3]

The council has approximately one member for every five people on Pitcairn, making it the most representative official legislature of any country, non-sovereign entity, or unrecognized state in the world.

History

The presiding officer of the council was traditionally the Magistrate, who held executive, legislative, and judicial authority. Following a constitutional review in 1998, this office was divided and replaced by the Mayor and the council chairman, effective from 1999.

Until 2011 the Governor appointed a second member of the Council. However, this position was scrapped in favour of introducing the fifth elected seat.[4]

Council membership

As of January 2026, the composition of the Island Council was:[5]

Voting members:

Non-voting (ex-officio) Members:

References

  1. 1 2 "Change of British High Commissioner to New Zealand: Louise Cantillon". gov.uk. Government of the United Kingdom. 26 August 2026. Archived from the original on 26 August 2026. Retrieved 29 August 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 "Pitcairn Island Council: Minutes of the Special Council Meeting Held at the Pulau School Commencing at 11:00 am, January 12, 2026" (PDF). 21 January 2026. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 July 2026. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  3. ↑ "Local Government Ordinance (Revised Edition 2015)" (PDF). Government of the Pitcairn Islands. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  4. ↑ 12 December 2011 - Pitcairn Elections Archived 19 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine Pitcairn News, December 2011
  5. 1 2 "Election Day!". Pitcairn MPA. 6 November 2025 – via Facebook.
  6. ↑ "Minutes of the Regular Council Meeting held at the Pulau School Commencing at 9.00am, 27 August 2025" (PDF). static1.squarespace.com. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  7. ↑ "Ms Iona Thomas OBE". gov.uk. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  8. ↑ "Alasdair Hamilton". gov.uk. Retrieved 12 July 2022.

25°03′58″S 130°06′02″W / 25.0662°S 130.1005°W / -25.0662; -130.1005

This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.