18 November 2011

British Virgin Islands Election Results


The British Virgin Islands general election, 2011 was held in the British Virgin Islands on 7 November 2011.[1] The result was a decisive victory for the opposition National Democratic Party (NDP) led by Orlando Smith over the incumbent Virgin Islands Party (VIP), led by Premier Ralph T. O'Neal.[2] No minor parties or independent candidates won any seats.

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[edit]Background

The House of Assembly was dissolved on 13 September 2011, by the Governor, Mr William Boyd McCleary, on advice from the Premier. However, the date of the election was not announced until 23 September 2011.
Premier Ralph O'Neal confirmed that he would lead his party at the 2011 general election, even though he would turn 78 shortly after the election, and would be 82 at the end of the term of office (if re-elected).
Second district representative, Alvin Christopher (who received the highest percentage of votes for a territorial candidate (75.9%) in the 2007 election) announced that he will run for the Virgin Islands Party. Mr Christopher has formerly run for the VIP, the NDP and as an independent candidate.
Although the ruling Virgin Islands Party had a huge majority following the 2007 election the intervening years had been characterised by difficult economic times, and a series of natural disasters had hit the Territory damaging its infrastructure. Both of these events led to criticism being directed towards the ruling Government.

[edit]Results

e • d Summary of the 7 November 2011 Legislative assembly election results
PartiesVotes*%ageSeats
National Democratic Party22,85852.5%9
Virgin Islands Party16,99839.0%4
People's Patriotic Alliance2,2045.1%0
Independents1,4913.4%0
Speaker and Attorney General2
Total (turnout 68.8% (est.))43,551100.0%15
* Each voter has 5 votes; 1 district vote and 4 territorial "at-large" votes
Source: BVI Platinum News

[edit]District seats

The early (unofficial) results of the voting for the district seats were as follows:
  • First electorial district
CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Andrew A. Fahie (VIP)61165.8%
Preston Stoutt (IND)31734.2%
  • Second Electoral District
CandidateNo of votesPercentage
J. Alvin Christopher (VIP)42352.4%
Claude Cline-Skelton (NDP)33942.0%
Leall Rhymer (IND)384.7%
Allewine Smith70.9%
  • Third Electoral District
CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Julian Fraser (VIP)61352.4%
Kevin Smith (NDP)55747.6%
  • Fourth Electoral District
CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Mark Vanterpool (NDP)66168.5%
Vincent Scatliffe (VIP)20921.7%
Collin Scatliffe (IND)959.8%
  • Fifth Electoral District
CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Delores Christopher (NDP)72755.0%
Elvis Jerome Harrigan (VIP)59645.0%
  • Sixth Electoral District
CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Alvera Maduro-Caines (NDP)61261.4%
Omar Hodge (VIP)38538.6%
  • Seventh Electoral District
CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Kedrick Pickering (NDP)53570.1%
Ronnie Lettsome (VIP)15620.5%
Allen Wheatley (IND)729.4%
  • Eighth Electoral District
CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Marlon Penn (NDP)52448.1%
Dancia Penn (VIP)42338.8%
Bevis Sylvester (IND)11210.3%
Nolan Davis (IND)302.8%
  • Ninth Electoral District
CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Ralph T. O'Neal (VIP)56549.4%
Hubert O'Neal (NDP)53746.9%
Lorie Rymer (IND)201.8%
Devon Osborne (IND)111.0%
Rheudell Samuel O'Neal111.0%
(IND) = Independent candidate
(NDP) = National Democratic Party candidate
(VIP) = Virgin Islands Party candidate
In the early polling, one of the bigger surprises was the defeat of Government minister and veteran politician, Omar Hodge, in the 6th district by political newcomer, Alvera Maduro-Caines. Early counts showed incumbent Premier, Ralph O'Neal, trailing his challenger, Hubert O'Neal, in the 9th district, but he eventually overhauled the challenger to retain the seat which he has held since 1971.
In the Territorial seats, the highest percentage of votes and greatest margin of victory (nearly 50 points) was Kendrick Pickering in the 7th district. The largest number of individual votes however was Delores Christopher in the 5th district. The lowest percentage of votes by a winning candidate was Marlon Penn (48.1%) in the four way race in the 9th district. The lowest total number of votes by a victorious candidate was Alvin Christopher (423) in the 2nd district.

[edit]Territorial At-Large Seats

The results for the at-large seats were as following. The top four vote receiving candidates are elected to the at-large seats.
PositionCandidatePartyVotes
1Orlando Smith(NDP)(5,081 votes)
2Myron Walwyn(NDP)(4,605 votes)
3Ronnie Skelton(NDP)(4,475 votes)
4Archibald Christian(NDP)(4,205 votes)
5Irene Penn-O'Neal(VIP)(3,764 votes)
6Zoë Walcott-McMillan(VIP)(3,335 votes)
7Vernon Malone(VIP)(2,960 votes)
8Keith Flax(VIP)(2,958 votes)
9Shaina Smith(PPA)(889 votes)
10Natalio Wheatley(PPA)(785 votes)
11Bertrand Lettsome(IND)(476 votes)
12Elton Callwood(PPA)(332 votes)
13Khoy Smith(PPA)(198 votes)
14Edmund Maduro(IND)(122 votes)
15Lionel Penn(IND)(99 votes)
16Eileen Baronville(IND)(81 votes)
(IND) = Independent candidate
(NDP) = National Democratic Party candidate
(PPA) = People’s Patriotic Alliance
(VIP) = Virgin Islands Party candidate
Orlando Smith, being the leader of the victorious National Democratic Party, will be invited by the Governor to form a new Govenrment as the Premier.
Orlando Smith also retains his record as being the only politician to be elected as an at-large candidate at every single election in the British Virgin Islands since at-large candidates have been allowed to stand.

[edit]New Government

On 9 November 2011, the Governor, Mr Boyd McCleary officially appointed Orlando Smith as the Premier under section 52(1) the constitution. He becomes the third person in BVI political history to serve two non-consecutive terms of office as Chief Minister/Premier, and the fourth to win more than one general election as party leader
On the same day the first cabinet was sworn in under Orlando Smith.
  • In addition to serving as the Territory’s Premier Honourable Orlando Smith was appointed Minister of Finance and Tourism.
  • Honourable Kendrick Pickering was appointed Deputy Premier, and Minister of Natural Resources and Labour.
  • Honourable Myron Walwyn was appointed Minister of Education and Culture.
  • Honourable Mark Vanterpool was appointed Minister of Communications and Works.
  • Honourable Ronnie Skelton was appointed Minister of Health and Social Development.

[edit]Sources

[edit]Footnotes

  1. ^ "Premier Announces November 7 As General Elections Day". Platinum News BVI. 2011-09-23.
  2. ^ "Loud celebration begins in Road Town!". Virgin Islands News Online. Retrieved 2011-11-08.

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