2007 British Virgin Islands general election

General elections were held in the British Virgin Islands on 20 August 2007. The result was a landslide victory for the opposition Virgin Islands Party (VIP) over the incumbent National Democratic Party (NDP).[1]

2007 British Virgin Islands general election

← 2003 20 August 2007 (2007-08-20) 2011 →

13 of the 15 seats in the House of Assembly
7 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Ralph T. O'Neal Orlando Smith
Party VIP NDP
Last election 42.22%, 5 seats 52.39%, 8 seats
Seats won 10 2
Seat change Increase 5 Decrease 6
Percentage 50.31% 46.74%

Premier before election

Orlando Smith
NDP

Premier after election

Ralph T. O'Neal
VIP

The VIP took 7 of the 9 district seats (of the remaining district seats, only 1 was taking by the NDP; the other was taken by Alvin Christopher, an independent candidate endorsed by the VIP). The VIP also took 3 out of the 4 territorial at-large seats. The only two NDP candidates to retain their seats were former Chief Minister Orlando Smith and seventh district representative Kedrick Pickering. VIP at-large candidate Zoë McMillan-Walcott had initially asked for a recount of her vote against Orlando Smith for the fourth at-large seat (the initial count indicated her to have received only 18 fewer votes), but she subsequently withdrew the request.[1]

The victory gave the VIP an unprecedented 10 elected seats out of the 13 available in the House of Assembly of the British Virgin Islands, despite receiving only a mere 5.6% greater share of the votes than the NDP (45.2% to 39.6%).

Voter turnout was relatively high, with approximately 62.3% of registered voters casting votes; although this was some way lower than the 72.2% voter turnout for the 2003 election.[2] The lowest turnout was in the fifth district, where only 49.3% of voters cast votes; the highest was the eighth district, where 76.2% turnout was recorded.

The Supervisor of elections reported that the elections passed off "without incident".[2]

Results

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Because of the NDP's high dependence upon At-large seats, a relatively small shift in voter sentiment turned a defeat into a massacre. After winning all four At-large seats in the previous election, in 2007 the NDP could barely cling onto one with Orlando Smith eclipsing Zoë Walcott-McMillan by just 18 votes out of a total of ballots cast. Dr Smith's election was the only thing that went right for the NDP on election day, with seemingly every other close race falling into the laps of the VIP, in each case snatching close victories in the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Districts.

A variety of circumstances combined to convert the VIP's 45.2% of the electoral votes into 84.6% (11 out of 13) of the available seats once Alvin Christopher (who won as an independent) formally decided to rejoin his former party.

PartyDistrictAt-largeTotal
seats
+/–
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
Virgin Islands Party3,83852.63714,47750.31310+5
National Democratic Party2,56335.14113,44946.7412–6
Independents89212.2318502.9501+1
Speaker and Attorney General20
Total7,293100.00928,776100.004150
Valid votes7,29398.177,34399.07
Invalid/blank votes1361.83690.93
Total votes7,429100.007,412100.00
Registered voters/turnout11,17566.4811,17566.33
Source: Election Centre

District seats

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The closest races were in the fourth district (where only 27 votes separated the candidates), the fifth district (23 votes separated the leading candidates, and 87 votes went to independent candidates) and the ninth where a mere 9 votes separated the candidates (46 votes having gone to the independent candidate) and a recount was conducted.

Alvin Christopher received the highest percentage of votes for a territorial candidate (75.9%), whilst Andrew Fahie received the highest number of total votes. Hubert O'Neal had the unhappy distinction of having the highest number of votes (467 votes, higher than 5 successful candidates) and the highest percentage of the vote (46.9%) for a losing territorial candidate. Elvis "Jughead" Harrigan had the lowest number of votes (309) and percentage of vote (44.7%) for any successful territorial candidate.[3]

1st District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Andrew FahieVirgin Islands Party61174.88
Archibald ChristianNational Democratic Party20525.12
Total816100.00
Valid votes81698.91
Invalid/blank votes91.09
Total votes825100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,27764.60
2nd District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Alvin ChristopherIndependent48477.69
Gerald ChinneryNational Democratic Party13922.31
Total623100.00
Valid votes62397.65
Invalid/blank votes152.35
Total votes638100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,14355.82
3rd District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Julian FraserVirgin Islands Party59070.66
Alwon SmithNational Democratic Party24529.34
Total835100.00
Valid votes83598.58
Invalid/blank votes121.42
Total votes847100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,23568.58
4th District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Vincent ScatliffeVirgin Islands Party40050.76
Audley MaduroNational Democratic Party37347.34
Courtney de CastroIndependent151.90
Total788100.00
Valid votes78898.75
Invalid/blank votes101.25
Total votes798100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,22665.09
5th District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Elvis Jerome HarriganVirgin Islands Party42246.73
Delores ChristopherNational Democratic Party39443.63
Lesmore SmithIndependent566.20
Nona VanterpoolIndependent313.43
Total903100.00
Valid votes90399.45
Invalid/blank votes50.55
Total votes908100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,40364.72
6th District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Omar HodgeVirgin Islands Party58870.00
E. Walwyn BrewleyIndependent25230.00
Total840100.00
Valid votes84096.22
Invalid/blank votes333.78
Total votes873100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,36364.05
7th District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Kedrick PickeringNational Democratic Party35154.08
Ronnie LettsomeVirgin Islands Party29845.92
Total649100.00
Valid votes64997.59
Invalid/blank votes162.41
Total votes665100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,02564.88
8th District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Dancia PennVirgin Islands Party45353.29
Lloyd BlackNational Democratic Party38945.76
Douglas D. WheatleyIndependent80.94
Total850100.00
Valid votes85098.38
Invalid/blank votes141.62
Total votes864100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,12576.80
9th District
CandidatePartyVotes%
Ralph T. O'NealVirgin Islands Party47648.13
Hubert O'NealNational Democratic Party46747.22
Devon OsborneIndependent464.65
Total989100.00
Valid votes98997.82
Invalid/blank votes222.18
Total votes1,011100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,37873.37

Territorial At-Large Seats

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The top four vote receiving candidates are elected to the at-large seats.

CandidatePartyVotes%
Irene Penn-O'NealVirgin Islands Party3,72112.93
Vernon Elroy MaloneVirgin Islands Party3,62612.60
Keith L. FlaxVirgin Islands Party3,59912.51
Orlando SmithNational Democratic Party3,54912.33
Zoe Walcott-McMillanVirgin Islands Party3,53112.27
Elmore StouttNational Democratic Party3,43311.93
Ronnie W. SkeltonNational Democratic Party3,40411.83
Mark VanterpoolNational Democratic Party3,06310.64
Alred FrettIndependent3261.13
Quincy LettsomeIndependent2500.87
Ulric ScatliffeIndependent1740.60
Eileene E. BaronvilleIndependent1000.35
Total28,776100.00
Valid votes7,34399.07
Invalid/blank votes690.93
Total votes7,412100.00
Registered voters/turnout11,17566.33

Aftermath

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On 22 August 2007, the Governor, Mr David Pearey officially appointed Ralph O'Neal as the first Premier (as the position of Chief Minister will be called) under section 52(1) the new constitution. He became only the second person in BVI political history (after Lavity Stoutt) to serve two non-consecutive terms of office as Chief Minister/Premier, and only the third (Lavity Stoutt and Willard Wheatley) to win more than one general election as party leader (both since matched by Orlando Smith). Both were considered remarkable achievements for a politician who was written off by some as a "spent force" after he lost the previous election at the age of 69.

Despite questions over how long Ralph O'Neal expects to serve as Premier, starting his term at the age of 73, he served the full term. Rumours abounded prior to the election that a backroom deal may have been struck with Dancia Penn that she would take over the premiership when he stepped down, mid-term; a move that may presumably cause some internal consternation in the party. Those rumours were further fuelled when Dancia Penn was appointed as Deputy Premier shortly after the election.

On 23 August 2007 the first cabinet was sworn in under Ralph O'Neal.

  • In addition to serving as the Territory's first Premier Honourable Ralph T. O’Neal was appointed Minister of Finance and Tourism.
  • Honourable Andrew Fahie was appointed Minister of Education and Culture
  • Honourable Julian Fraser was appointed Minister of Communications and Works
  • Honourable Omar Hodge was appointed Minister of Natural Resources and Labour
  • Honourable Dancia Penn, OBE, QC was appointed Minister of Health and Social Development.

Sources: Platinum news; Government Press Release 323R/07

References

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  1. ^ "2007 general election report" (PDF). Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  2. ^ A number of registered voters live and work abroad, and in the British Virgin Islands no postal or proxy voting is permitted, so the figure is unusually high by comparative standards.
  3. ^ However, the fifth district also had the highest number of candidates (four) and the lowest turnout (49.3%).
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