Orville Alton Turnquest

Sir Orville Alton Turnquest GCMG , (born July 19, 1929 in Grants Town, New Providence , Bahamas ) is a Bahamas politician .

biography

Turnquest is a member of the Free National Movement (FNM). When the latter achieved a nationwide election victory over the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) led by Prime Minister Lynden O. Pindling , which had ruled since 1967, in August 1992, he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Justice and Foreign Minister by the new Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham on August 21, 1992. In the parliamentary elections he was also elected a member of the House of Assembly , where he represented the interests of the Montagu constituency.

In November 1994 he resigned as Minister and was instead sworn in on January 3, 1995 as the successor to Sir Clifford Darling as Governor General of the Bahamas . Upon his appointment, he was made Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George by Queen Elizabeth II . During his tenure, more than any other Governor General of the Bahamas before, he opened his residence (Government House) to the common people, so that the Government House was popularly known as "The People's House". As a great advocate of a "United Bahamas" he saw himself as the unity of all the islands and districts of the Bahamas .

After about seven years in office, he initially wanted to resign on October 31, 2001. The official resignation date was then postponed to November 13, 2001 to allow Queen Elizabeth II the opportunity to say goodbye at Buckingham Palace . Sir Orville Turnquest resigned to pave the way for his son, Tommy Turnquest, the FNM's top candidate, to become Prime Minister after the 2002 Assembly House elections. However, the FNM suffered a severe election defeat, so that Perry Christie of the PLP became the new Prime Minister.

Web links

• rulers.org