Ascension Island Council – General Election

24 September 2013

Council

Message from His Excellency Mark Capes, Governor of Ascension Island

Ascension Island General Election – 31 October 2013

I would like to inform the community on Ascension that I intend to dissolve the Ascension Island Council on 2 October and to instruct that elections for a new Council are held on 31 October 2013.

My grateful thanks to the five members of the outgoing Council for their hard work and their commitment to the Ascension community over their term of office since March 2011. They have dealt with some difficult issues including the financial crisis that beset Ascension prior to 2011. The Island’s relative financial stability since then is largely a result of the difficult choices and decisions they made.

Your Councillors provided effective scrutiny of the Administrator and AIG policies and programmes. They have also represented Ascension at international gatherings including the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council. Councillors Kitty George, Cathy Cranfield, Toni Bendall, Neil Lawrence and Cyril Leo deserve our thanks.

I am dissolving Council at this point primarily because I judge it important that the process
of developing the next annual budget for AIG should to be taken forward and owned by a
new Council.

I look forward to a well managed election on 31 October with a high turnout by voters. This
is your opportunity to have your say and I encourage you to consider standing as a
candidate.

Mark Capes
Governor
23 September 2013